Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)

There is a big difference between the GAA pitch and the film industry.

The Irish-Italian television series which it is planned to broadcast at the time of the 100th anniversary early next year of the infamous vessel's launch and subsequent loss will provide approximately 200 jobs for Irish cast and crew.

Other highlights for home-grown production in 2011 include Rebecca Daly's "The Other Side of Sleep", which has been selected for the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival as well as the Director's Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011, and Thaddeus O'Sullivan's "Stella Days", starring Martin Sheen. International film productions which were filmed here include the major US feature film "Haywire", directed by Steven Soderbergh; the Toronto International Film Festival selected "Albert Nobbs", starring Glenn Close in what many are tipping as an Oscar worthy performance; and Paolo Sorrentino's "This Must Be The Place" starring Sean Penn, which was selected for official competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011.

Another potentially significant project this year was the first Bollywood blockbuster to shoot in Ireland, "Ek Tha Tiger" which stars two of Bollywood's biggest stars and was recently filmed over five weeks on location in Dublin. It is estimated that the production contributed €1.5 million to the Irish economy and created more than 1,000 short-term jobs with many Irish cast and crew involved in the shoot. The film used an abundance of Dublin locations for spectacular dance sequences and stunts, including Trinity College, IMMA, the quays, South King Street, Mount Street, the Shelbourne Hotel, Temple Bar and St. Stephen's Green to name a few. It is set to be distributed to 24 countries. This means images of Ireland and Dublin will be projected on the big screen across the globe, especially to new untapped demographics such as India's burgeoning middle and upper classes, not to mention the Indian diaspora throughout the world. All of this will provide promotional opportunities for Tourism Ireland to exploit Ireland as a tourist destination. According to Fáilte Ireland figures, 20% of all tourists who visited Ireland in 2010 did so because of images of Ireland they saw on film.

The IFB, with Government support, has adopted a strategic approach to meeting these challenges. Through its varied schemes and programmes, it aims to assist projects at the earliest stage of development through to the pre-production phase and finally to production and post-production. Through its funding of Screen Training Ireland, the IFB addresses the training needs of the industry, with more than 500 people receiving training in all aspects of the film-making process each year. Thus, training supports can be put in place to match the requirements of the market place and render its participants relevant to the sector they want to enter.

The significant challenge now is to continue to provide as supportive an environment as is possible. The audiovisual industry is "smart". It combines tradition with the advent of each new technology and is in fact about tradition, translation and transmission. The sector provides natural alliances between education and culture. It is, therefore, uniquely positioned to lead, contribute to and enhance the smart economy.

In this regard, I recently published a five-year strategy for the sector, Creative Capital -Building Ireland's Audiovisual Creative Economy. This report will deliver on issues regarding talent development, convergence, sectoral growth, education and the digital opportunities for Ireland, as well as reporting on industry leadership, State agency roles and innovation. It will provide a road map for the coming years and will assist in enabling the domestic audiovisual content production sector to develop into an internationally traded sector for product and services over a five year period from 2011 to 2015 and to increase employment levels to 10,000.

Success in recent years at film festivals and award ceremonies is one measure which confirms policy in this area is working. The year 2010 was a great year for Irish film-making, with Irish talent picking up awards and nominations and some of the industry's highest accolades. Highlights include the Irish film industry receiving five Academy Award nominations, three of which were for the IFB supported films "The Secret of Kells", "Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty" and "The Door", while Irish animator Richard Baneham and his team picked up the Oscar for best visual effects for his work on "Avatar".

These successes continued from previous years. In 2009, Colin Farrell and Gabriel Byrne won Golden Globe awards and Brendan Gleeson and Dearbhla Walsh won Emmys. In 2008 "Once ", which was made for only €300,000 with support from the IFB, was awarded the Oscar for best original song. Also in 2008 "Hunger" won the Camera D'Or award at Cannes and in 2007 "Garage" also won an award at Cannes.

Another important success happened this week with the animated series "The Amazing World of Gumball", co-produced by Dublin-based animation company Boulder Media, picking up awards for animation and writing at the British Academy Children's Awards. These awards help to give confidence and increased profile to the sector and are significant evidence that productions emanating from Ireland are of a very high calibre.

Also in recent days the IFB announced details of its latest round of funding decisions that will generate production activity worth an estimated €38 million to the Irish economy over the coming months. Among the projects being supported are six projects from the animation sector from production companies such as Boulder Media, Brown Bag Films, Igloo Films, Monster Distributes, Magpie6 Media and Monster Animation.

Confirmation was also provided on funding for Neil Jordan's latest major feature film "Byzantium". Produced by Alan Moloney and Stephen Woolley, it is estimated that "Byzantium" will result in a net inflow of just under €7 million to the Irish economy in terms of spend on local jobs, goods and services. The film will star well-known Irish actress Saoirse Ronan.

Another interesting aspect of this funding round is the first co-production between Ireland and Singapore. "Mister John" is a feature-length film produced by Samson Films, and represents a further move by the IFB to create new production opportunities by opening up the Asian market for Irish producers.

In tandem with supports for the IFB, my Department's primary operational role in supporting the film sector relates to the administration of elements of the section 481 tax relief scheme. In 2010 a total of 57 projects, an increase from 44 projects in 2009, were approved for funding through section 481 with an Irish spend of €164.65 million. These 57 projects supported substantial employment for crew, cast and extras and had the effect of maintaining and creating jobs in a very difficult climate, while at the same time producing a product that will help to sell Ireland abroad.

To date a total of 44 projects have been approved for funding with an Irish spend of more than €89 million. While at this stage it looks as if we will not reach the level of last year, the number of projects remains high. It should be pointed out that 2010 was a exceptionally good year for Irish film-making. Section 481 has been extended to the end of 2015. This will assist in giving the sector continuity and certainty for the future and will allow projects to proceed in the knowledge that this important underpinning of the industry will be there for the next four years.

Our cultural and artistic identity as a nation gives us a competitive advantage that now more than ever must be exploited. The benefits of high levels of film and television production in Ireland will include increased international investment in the economy, increased employment in this sector, positive spin-off effects in promoting Ireland as a tourist location and the improvement of Ireland as an industrial location for all aspects of creative endeavours.

I appreciate Senators' co-operation - I thank the three Senators present for their attendance - in the enactment of this short but important Bill which I commend to the House.