Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

A number of issues were raised. On the question of the two out of 17 routes, I will bring that matter to the attention of my officials. Perhaps it will engage with CIE Tours. I will also bring the question of Achill Island and the Tourism Ireland twinning initiative to my officials. We may get back to the Deputy on that. There are incredible opportunities for screen tourism given the spotlight "An Cailín Ciúin" and "The Banshees of Inisherin", which was shot on the beautiful west coast, have put on our country. As I have said to Deputy Dillon before - Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan has raised this issue as well - Tourism Ireland was very quick off the mark in capitalising on these productions. It released a video on Twitter a few months ago in which the actors spoke about the beautiful areas they got to film in. With regard to the regional uplift, I can come back to Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan in greater detail. I addressed the issue earlier with Deputy Ó Snodaigh. It is really a matter for the Minister for Finance. There is a new map. We are in negotiation with the Minister but, unfortunately, there is a map there already, as I mentioned to the Deputy last week. The Department has given Screen Ireland increased funding of €3.5 million to aid in the development of film production in the regions.

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