Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

Is Bille teicniúil é seo chun deis a thabhairt d'Fhís Éireann leanúint ag tacú le scannáin in Éirinn sna blianta amach romhainn. Ní chuirfidh Sinn Féin i gcoinne an chuspóra sin. Tá éacht den scoth bainte amach ag an earnáil scannánaíochta in Éirinn leis na blianta anuas. Tá Sinn Féin tar éis tacú go mór leis an earnáil. Anuraidh, d'fhoilsigh Sinn Féin plean cuimsitheach le deich dtosaíocht maidir le scannánaíocht mar chuid d'ár bpolasaí ealaíona. Táim tar éis trí Bhille a thionscnú sa Dáil seo chun tacú le hoibreoirí scannán, le déantús scannán lasmuigh de Bhaile Átha Cliath agus Chill Mhantáin, agus le rochtain a chinntiú do chách ar sheirbhísí closamhairc trasna an oileáin.

The reason we in Sinn Féin have put so much time and energy into producing dedicated policies and introducing Bills to support our film industry, performers and audience access is film is vital not only for the creation of jobs and bringing investment to our regions, but also to the nation both in terms of how we are seen by others and how we view ourselves. When Irish films succeed, our economy, society and culture benefit. Thanks to the tremendous work of screenwriters, cinematographers, producers, directors, editors, cast and crew, as well as the hard work and investment of State bodies, including Fís Éireann, Ireland can boast of enormous success in recent years, from which we have all benefited. Not alone has Ireland witnessed unprecedented wins, from the Oscars to the Sundance Festival, but a golden age has emerged, in particular for film-making in our native tongue. This golden age has been a long time in the making. Last year marked 90 years since the seminal documentary, "Man of Aran", which focused on saol na hÉireann, and since then we have seen many other films. In particular, of late we have had "Kneecap" and "An Cailín Ciúin" but they are not the only ones that have been cited by many. We have also had "An Taibhse", "Fréamhacha", "Arracht" and even "Foscadh" and "Róise agus Frank", which have put the spotlight on many of the contrasting ways our society operates and brings grief, in some cases, and joy in other cases. They often revolve around strong women working together and carrying out, in one of the films, "Aontas", a heist on a credit union in, or the women's naomhóg race in "Tarrac". I urge everyone who is listening in, if they are at all, to look at the Irish language films and at the Irish made films in the first instance and see they are products of our investment and the likes of this type of legislation, which encourages films to go a long way.

Major changes are required and this is one of them. We are supportive of the intention of the legislation. It is a practical step, and a technical step in some ways. It is an acceptance of the real life of cinema. We must acknowledge there are problems within the industry. The Minister of State will be aware of some of the issues I and others in the opposition have been raising consistently over the past few years. I have had this conversation with the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, and he has indicated he will examine some of the issues and maybe in other legislation that has been mooted there will be changes forthcoming.

The three major issues that must be addressed are the rights of workers and performers, the imbalance in the regional development of the sector and the failure to deliver funding potential for our cultural sector. I raised the issue of rights for workers and performers only last week in our discussion on the Finance Bill and I welcomed the commitments given by the Tánaiste in response because we need to ensure that from wherever State support is being provided to film productions, whether it is through Fís Éireann or another form of tax relief, that it does not contribute in any way to undermining worker's rights and conditions or it is not in violation of copyright law, in particular the EU copyright directive, because that directive outlines that performers have an unwaivable right to equitable remuneration and we know there are incidents where State-supported film productions are forcing performers to waive their rights and accept remuneration as proportionate before knowing what proportion it is in terms of their future revenue. That is unacceptable.

I quoted from one company last week that is in a coproduction with a US company that filmed in Ireland this year and was in receipt of the section 481 tax relief. The contract stated:

The artist acknowledges that the fees payable herein constitute a complete buyout of all rights contemplated hereunder and the artist shall not be entitled to any further sums whatsoever by reason of the exploitation of the film or other exploitations permitted hereunder ... No further sums are payable to the artist, or to the artists under this agreement, whether in respect of the hours worked by the artist or under any collective bargaining agreement, or in connection with the use or the exploitation and/or the promotion of the film unless otherwise expressly stated herein. ... To the extent that the artist becomes entitled to any use, fees or residuals in respect of the film, no obligation shall be placed on the company in relation to the collection of payment of such moneys.

The law is meant to protect the vulnerable from being pushed around and having their rights denied. That is exactly what that contract would do and it is in breach of the EU directive. We need to expose this when this happens and back those who wish to take a stand because the problem is if someone refuses to sign these contracts, he or she will not get the work. In an industry where work can be precarious and consist of going from film to film, if people are cut out, while they may not be blacklisted, they will not get another contract because there are only a certain number of them. We need to send a message that any State support, whether through Fís Éireann or a licence under section 481, will not tolerate any undermining of those rights.

I encourage the Minister of State to meet Irish Equity in particular, in future, to hear out the concerns around the contracts and the buyouts and to speak to film workers who have been raising issues of industrial relations and blacklisting in the industry for years.

The other issue I want to raise if that of the regional imbalance. There was an attempt to address this in 2019 when there was a short-lived regional uplift on top of section 481. That did not have an effect because it was truncated in the middle because of a two and a half year interruption due to Covid. While it was extended for an additional year, it was being tapered out anyway so we did not have the full effects of that. Maybe the Minister of State could look again at reintroducing it to see whether it would address the imbalance whereby most of the film productions and companies are located on the east coast, and in the Dublin region in particular. A "Gaeltacht uplift" is another way to look at it but it is something that would help and the Minister indicated he would look at it again. I am just using the opportunity to encourage him to do so again.

The other issue that needs to be considered is how to ensure Irish music, musicians and composers are used and get the full benefit of all of these films being produced in Ireland, We have some of the best musicians in the world and we have seen that on every world stage and through every genre of music.

There is no guarantee while the film companies are benefiting from the section 481 tax credit that Irish-based composers should continue to be used but also that the companies would be encouraged to consider them. None of the high-end productions that are filmed in Ireland have been using the composer of late. The Screen Composers Guild of Ireland has collected data that show that the level of productions in receipt of section 481 credit who employ Irish-based composers or use any Irish-based contribution continues to remain static at 30% and none of these productions are in the high budget bracket. This falls short of what the guild has said is an acceptable level given that the tax credit is, in fact, tax foregone by our society. If we are going to give away taxpayers' money or at least not call it in, we should ensure that we get the best and the most possible benefit and that includes ensuring composers have a role in productions.

The Irish Music Rights Organisation, IMRO, in its prebudget submission last year, expressed its concern that despite music being a vital component of film success, most section 481 schemes do not specify or mention music in their applications, unlike schemes in Britain. That is one of the key points. We need only look across the shore and see the benefits of investment in music in film, but also that many working in the film industry, actors or screenwriters, have a better contract than their Irish counterparts are being asked to sign. In fact, in some productions in Ireland, people are directly recruited to the film in London and the ones recruited in Ireland have two separate contracts, one of which, the English, is more beneficial.

Screen composers have outlined that music for film is highly international and competitive and in order for Ireland and Irish-based composers to compete successfully, it is important that music creation be supported overtly within the Irish audiovisual tax credit mechanism and that this is comparable to similar incentives offered by international coproduction partners to ensure that there is no in-built disincentive to bringing music departments to Ireland where coproductions are availing of multiple incentives. We believe that there are constructive solutions. They might not be ones that we will fully address in this Bill, but I intend to table one or two amendments to the Bill on Committee and Report Stages, to address some of these issues as they relate to this, as I said, technical Bill. We will have that discussion next week when this Bill comes before the House again. I tabled those amendments earlier, which, I think, was the deadline even though we are only on Second Stage. I sent them in and we will have the opportunity to discuss them next week. We would be standing up for Irish workers and artists if the amendments and the suggestions I and many others have tabled were adopted. My amendments are not aimed at hampering the industry in any way. They are aimed at enhancing it to all of our benefit.

Sin an méid atá agam faoi láthair. Tá brón orm. Ní féidir liom fanacht mar tá grúpa ón bPalaistín istigh agam faoi láthair. B'fhéidir go mbeidh mé ar ais roimh dheireadh na ráiteas.

See this speech in context