Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I am pretty familiar with this issue because I have been bringing it up for about four years. The problem is, nothing ever really changes. I am interested to see this legislation and whether it will make any difference. Could the Minister of State please tell us when that legislation is actually coming up? To repeat, there is an easier way to do this and it is for the Government to crack the whip on the film producers because the Government gives the money. It is not specifically the Minister of State's Department, but everybody is working together on this. What the EU Directive says is that buyout contracts should be the exception, not the rule. In Ireland, they are the rule.

That should not be the case. The Government should crack the whip and state that actors, performers, writers and directors should not be forced to sign contracts which give away their right to future revenues if films turn out to be successful. Some 3,500 of them have signed a petition calling for action on this. That petition has been signed by some of the top names, but they are not the ones who need what this. It is the majority of actors and performers who live in relative poverty.

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