Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Warfield for raising this matter. I assure him the roadmap is being prepared and co-ordinated by our colleagues in the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and will include inputs from my Department, Enterprise Ireland and Design and Crafts Council Ireland. The Senator referred to the extensive consultations that have taken place, and continue to take place, on reaching consensus on a series of action plans or recommendations that will ultimately form the basis for implementation of the roadmap.

I understand the roadmap for digital creative industries will be published this summer. I will revert to the Senator with a detailed update on that. Its goal is to set out a framework through which Departments and enterprise agencies can collaborate with digital creative industries in a concerted and integrated way in the future. This approach is identical to that taken with the film tax credit and the audiovisual action plan, which realised substantial investment in and success for the Irish audiovisual sector. As I said, consultations between my Department and our agencies will result in an agreed set of actions as part of the implementation of the roadmap.This will ensure the relevant Government Departments can support the digital creative enterprises in a more cohesive and effective manner.

As Senator Warfield has said, Enterprise Ireland and the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland, DCCI, already actively work with client companies in the digital creative industry space. Many of these companies have benefited from the full range of Enterprise Ireland and Design and Crafts Council of Ireland supports, including sales and digital marketing funding, strategic market review grants, digital marketing capability funding and market discovery funding. For instance, the DCCI is centrally involved in the development of programmes promoting design-driven innovation, such as Design Week and the very successful Irish Business Design Challenge, IDBC. The DCCI has recently established a design academy to provide practical, blended and online learning solutions for the craft and design community in Ireland and internationally.

The digital creative industries roadmap consultations, to which Senator Warfield referred, have highlighted an interest across the sector for early-stage start-up support. This year, Enterprise Ireland has launched a refreshed pre-seed support to help companies beginning that enterprise journey. Applicants can apply for €50,000 or €100,000 in investment. Therefore, EI is also actively working with clients in the digital creative industries, such as the animation and gaming companies, to develop and scale in addition to supporting these companies to enter new international markets. I had the pleasure of visiting the new centre in Sligo, which will be dedicated to digital gaming in particular. It is funded through my Department’s regional enterprise programme.

There are opportunities to increase company engagement and awareness of our extensive existing supports among digital creative enterprises. Enterprise Ireland’s client solutions hub provides insight, information and events on practical support for all small- and medium-sized businesses, SMEs. Certainly, I am open to the Senator’s suggestions and inputs as to how we can create further links between Enterprise Ireland and the digital creative industry.

In summary, we are actively working in co-ordination with colleagues in the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media to finalise the roadmap itself. That roadmap will create a more solid infrastructure to enhance opportunities for enterprises that are involved in the digital creative industries. However, alongside this work, there are active supports available. I am more than happy to work with the Senator to further increase the knowledge of those supports and to tie those supports into further companies in this space.