Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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11. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if her attention has been drawn to issues raised by film crew at the recent Oireachtas Committee on Budgetary Oversight hearings on section 481 tax relief in terms of their vulnerability to blacklisting and failure to vindicate their rights as employees under EU and national law; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3722/23]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I return to the subject of my earlier questions on the film industry. I will firstly address copyright and intellectual property rights. The legislation sets out that "The right to equitable remuneration conferred by this section shall not be waived by the performer and the performer shall not assign the right to equitable remuneration except to a collecting society". However, the contracts that producers are forcing performers to sign state that the artist agrees that the consideration herein constitutes equitable remuneration for the assignment of all rights pursuant to the above and represents a full buy-out of all rights. The producer companies that the State is funding are breaching the rights of writers, performers and actors.

Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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The Deputy will have the opportunity to ask a further question.

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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I believe this question relates to the vulnerability to blacklisting and failure to vindicate people's rights as employees under EU and national law. The Deputy is following up on the previous question. It is an excellent use of his time.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I am. I will bring up the blacklisting in a second.

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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I will answer the question tabled and then get back to the copyright. I understand that the Deputy's question on blacklisting refers to a situation when a person or persons are denied fair opportunities for work or they are discriminated against for one reason or another in gaining employment or both. Employment law is the responsibility of my colleague, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and the mechanisms for dealing with allegations of breaches in the employment laws of the State are under his aegis. These mechanisms are the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, and the Labour Court and they are the appropriate forum for dealing with allegations of such breaches.

In the event that allegations are upheld, applicant companies for section 481 must provide details of all WRC decisions relating to the qualifying company, the producer company or other companies in the film group, and where those decisions are a finding against such a company, confirmation that the finding has been followed or an explanation where the finding has not been followed must be provided.

I am a passionate advocate for diversity. As I am sure the Deputy is aware, I would not condone blacklisting or discrimination of any kind. I have introduced policies that highlight the need for inclusion of all. The work of the skills division of Screen Ireland has been particularly important in improving hiring practices in the audiovisual industry. Screen Ireland states that open hiring practices have increased to the extent that crew calls are now becoming commonplace for most productions. Crew calls mean that there is an open application process so that everyone can apply for crew positions in that production. This is for the industry and those working in it including those who may be marginalised, from minorities or from disadvantaged backgrounds. My Department has been informed that 2022 had the highest number of productions providing placements for disadvantaged groups.

More broadly, as I referred to earlier, the Safe to Create programme incorporates zero tolerance of seven damaging behaviours including victimisation. Victimisation occurs when there is adverse treatment of a worker in reaction to a complaint made by the employee or worker. It is intended that free online training in tackling bullying and harassment and in unconscious bias will be undertaken by all in the audiovisual industry. Training in these areas should further protect the rights of vulnerable or marginalised workers.

Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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There is a question of order here. I understand the Deputy asked an earlier, related question. It is fair to the Minister to have answered this one.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Absolutely, although the point is, as I mentioned earlier, that if people refuse to sign those buy-out contracts and do not get a job, they are in effect blacklisted. On the specific question, in order to avail of section 481, film producer companies have to sign a declaration that they are abiding by legislation such as the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act, and they are supposed to notify the Minister of cases. Did Metropolitan Films tell the Minister there was a finding against it by the Labour Court over breach of a collective agreement? Does that concern the Minister? Did it inform the Minister that there were ten different cases of unfair dismissal, with seven at the WRC and three at the Labour Court, where the producer company refused to give evidence and said it was not the employer? It could hide behind the designated activity company, DAC, and therefore refused to even engage with the court or give evidence when workers claiming unfair dismissal took those cases. Should the Government not be looking at the detail of this and examining whether there is a major problem? I believe there is a major problem.

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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Employment practices in industry have been examined by the WRC. The Deputy had a role in the background on that examination. We constantly monitor the operation of the scheme and work with all stakeholders to bring enhancements where we can. The recent extension of section 481 is a positive development for the sector and all working in it. Without section 481, productions as diverse as "An Cailín Ciúin" and "The Banshees of Inisherin" would not be feasible in Ireland. The WRC and Labour Court are independent statutory bodies under the Workplace Relations Act 2015 and the Industrial Relations Act 1946, respectively. They are the mechanisms for regulating employment law in the State. They are under the aegis of my colleague, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Both organisations have statutory powers under which they conduct their business and I have no role in their operation.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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It is just pass the parcel. I have to hand an email from someone who was not even in front of our committee. Their name could not be given. It just said that they would love to chat about the film and TV industry again and that blacklisting, bullying and poor practices are alive and well and happening now in some of the 13 productions that were under way in the country at the time.

The people who say things like that are afraid to speak out publicly. Those that did have not worked in the industry since. That is what is going on. It is possible because of the DAC structure for which the Government is responsible. The Government gives the production companies money and they give an undertaking to comply with all employment legislation. Such companies go into the WRC and state they are not the employer, even though the company knows who the person is and that he or she was employed on a film production where the company set up the DAC of which it owns 100%. Yet the companies say that they have no employment relationship with that person. And the Government is letting that happen. That is a breach of the fixed-term workers Act. Will the Government show us all the notifications or lack of notifications from the film producer companies about the cases that have been taken for unfair dismissal, which is effectively blacklisting?

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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As I said earlier this morning, I note that Screen Producers Ireland strongly refutes any claim of blacklisting in the Irish film industry-----

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Of course it does. What else is it going to say? "We blacklist people every day"?

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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-----and demonstrates its commitment to relations with the unions. If the Deputy knows of a specific instance, or of people to whom it has happened, it is up to him to make a complaint to the appropriate mechanism, which is the WRC. Certain individuals are claiming they have not been able to get a job since. The employment record of any individual is a private matter between him or her and the Department of Social Protection-----

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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It is not private. It is public money.

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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-----and the individual and the Revenue Commissioners. If the Deputy is aware of a specific incident, it is up to him to make the complaint to the appropriate mechanism, which is the WRC.