Vol. 450 No. 1
11 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht the plans, if any, he has for the provision of resources for fully accredited courses in film at third level; and the third level colleges these courses will be located at. [4622/95]
The question of providing third level courses is primarily one for my colleague, the Minister for Education. However, I can inform the Deputy that under the auspices of STATCOM, the special committee on the film industry, FÁS is finalising an in-depth study of the unmet training needs of the industry. I await the conclusions of the FÁS study with great interest. The report will, I am sure, have an important part to play in informing Government policy in this key area and, if the conclusions indentify an inadequacy in the resources for courses in film at third level, I will refer those conclusions to the Minister for Education for consideration and whatever action is appropriate.
While the Deputy will appreciate that my Department has no direct role in the provision of third level courses relating to film, I am aware of the existence of a number of such courses at various colleges and institutions, including Dún Laoghaire College of Art and Design — courses in film; University College Dublin — an MA in film studies and some extra-mural studies; Dublin City University — a communication course and an MA course in film studies; and Galway Regional Technical College — post-graduate course in video production.
It should be stressed that this list is not necessarily exhaustive.
