Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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52. To ask the Minister for Finance if he is aware of the recent examination of the section 481 film tax credit by the Oireachtas Committee on Budgetary Oversight, and in particular the concerns raised by an organisation (details supplied) regarding the use of buy-out contracts by producer companies on the intellectual property rights of performers and the issues raised by film crew representatives about the failure of producer companies to vindicate employment rights; and if he will address these concerns through changes to the film credit. [21854/23]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Committee on Budgetary Oversight, of which I am a member, today launched a report on the section 481 film tax credit, which at the moment is running approximately €100 million a year to film production companies in this country to allow them to make movies, something we all want to see happen. The report suggests, however, that continued or increased investment in this area needs to be dependent on vindicating the rights of performers and writers under the copyright directive to their intellectual property rights and the revenues that flow from it, and that crews must have their rights, not least under fixed-term workers' legislation, fully vindicated, which is currently not the case.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I am aware of the committee’s recent examination of the section 481 film tax credit, and I understand the report was published today. As I said in reply to the Deputy earlier, when I checked online in the middle of the afternoon, it was not available, but I will read it. I compliment the committee on undertaking this work.

In respect of the intellectual property rights of performers, copyright law falls within the remit of the Department of the Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Notwithstanding this, my officials have engaged with the stakeholders concerned, including representative bodies for actors and performers, to gain an understanding of the issue. Copyright is relevant for many workers in the film sector, including authors, producers and broadcasters in addition to actors, and I have been informed Screen Ireland has engaged an independent facilitator to meet key stakeholders to understand the various perspectives of those concerned. Individual stakeholder meetings have been held over the past eight weeks and the next phase will progress to group discussions. I look forward to the outputs from this process.

With regard to employment rights, the Deputy will be aware changes were made to the film tax credit to reinforce the requirement to adhere to employment rights legislation. As part of the cultural certification process, an applicant company is required to submit an undertaking of compliance with all relevant employment legislation. This commits applicants to compliance with all relevant employment legislation in respect of the film being certified. These conditions are to be met not just by the producer company but also by the designated activity company for each production.

As for any specific workplace disputes, the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, and the Labour Court are the organs of the State tasked with the resolution of such matters. It is appropriate that any relevant claims be referred to these bodies for adjudication. I am aware significant progress has been made through the introduction of new collective bargaining agreements in the sector, and my officials will continue to monitor progress in this space.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The problem is the conditions are not being met. In the case of Irish Equity, the motion passed at its recent AGM calls on the Government "to add to SI 119/2019 on film regulations under Schedule 1, information to support an application to the Minister for a certificate under section 481 of the Act of 1997, that any such application must engage all performers, authors and contracts that comply with the letter and intent of the copyright, the relevant Act of 2000 and the directive". That is not happening. The producer companies are, in the vast majority of cases, forcing them to sign buy-out contracts where they have to sign away their rights to future royalties on their intellectual property. I will return to the issues relating to the film crew in my supplementary questions. This is not happening, but our committee’s report states it must be a condition of continued or increased funding for film producers.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I acknowledge that the Deputy has been consistently raising this and related issues, and I am happy to pick up on the work my predecessor, Deputy Donohoe, did with him on these issues. The Minister of State, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, has met Screen Producers Ireland and visited Ardmore Studios. She will, I am sure, assist in trying to bring about a resolution to these issues.

Section 481 is a valuable tax relief. The audiovisual sector has performed well and we want to ensure any changes we consider will not undermine the attractiveness of the sector in Ireland. Nevertheless, we have to ensure that all those who are directly involved in production, including all the professionals the Deputy mentioned, are treated fairly and protected in every possible respect. There has been positive progress in negotiations between employer and worker representatives in the audiovisual sector in recent years. The Deputy will be very familiar with the modernised crew agreement, agreed and introduced in January 2021, and last year, Screen Producers Ireland and the ICTU film construction group of unions secured a construction crew agreement. I will come back to the copyright issue in my subsequent reply.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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To put it simply in the short time available, producers are happy enough with the status quo. They make actors, performers and writers sign buy-out contracts, but that is not good for actors and performers.

Similarly, the fixed-term workers directive and legislation are very clear. Companies cannot abuse the successive use of fixed-term contracts. Workers who work on several of these acquire by law contracts of indefinite duration. In other words, through their service having worked across multiple productions it must be legally acknowledged that they are employees. The producers are refusing to do that and are hiding behind the designated activity company, DAC, even though the producer company gets the money. That means the clock goes back to zero for every crew member after each production. It is as if they have never worked in the industry. Even if they worked in the industry for 20 years, they have no rights. After each production, they may or may not be re-employed which is an abuse of the directive, as is forcing the performers to sign away their intellectual property rights and royalties.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I give the Deputy a commitment that I will certainly read the Committee on Budget Oversight report. I am happy to engage with him and the sector to try to make further progress on these issues within the constraints that I need to live within, recognising that copyright law that does not fall within the Department of Finance. As the Deputy knows, it is within the remit of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. The EU (Copyright and Related Rights in the Digital Single Market) Regulations 2021 were signed into law by then Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment in November 2021.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The certification - the actual issuing of the certs - is partly down to the Department of Finance.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I am more than happy to engage with Deputy Boyd Barrett. I acknowledge he has a track record in raising these issues. From my reading of it, in preparation for this question it seems that there has been considerable progress. There has been goodwill and considerable work has been done by my predecessor and the industry to make progress. We will see if we can continue with that work and make more progress.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Before I go to the next question, I want to compliment the Committee on Budgetary Oversight on the work it did on this as well, as a member of the committee.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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You are also a member, a Chathaoirligh.