Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputies. We have a thriving audiovisual and film sector. Deputy Ó Snodaigh made that point. It is a good thing for our country, but at the same time we also want to make sure it is working well and working well for workers and that workers' rights are always to the fore. We have seen genuine progress in stakeholders engaging with the interim guidelines and I would like a full Irish negotiated agreement.

I understand why the Deputies are bringing this up, and they are quite right in bringing it up in the Finance Bill because of the application of section 481. However, the issues the Deputies are rightly highlighting relate to employment rights. We have taken a number of steps in previous Finance Acts to reinforce the importance of adhering to employment rights legislation, including the Finance Act 2018, which amended the certification process to require that an undertaking for compliance with all relevant employment legislation is signed, that a skills development plan for workers on the production submitted and agreed, and the certification process provides that the Minister for culture, after considering the application applying a set of tests may issue a cultural certificate as well. A lot of this also falls down to how we ensure that rights are upheld. Certainly, on the foot of this debate, I will send a copy of the transcript to the Ministers for Culture, Communications and Sport and Enterprise, Tourism and Employment because organisations in the State have a statutory obligation regarding employment legislation and workers' rights.

I acknowledge the point about when a production is finished, the company can disappear.

My understanding is that the DAC must stay in existence for at least 12 months after the end of the production. Valid issues have been raised. I do not wish to link the issue of legal and employment rights to the application of section 481 of a Finance Act, but I do not dismiss the points the Deputy has made and I will undertake to carry out the actions I have set out.

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