Vol. 483 No. 5
38 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands when the terms of reference of the proposed screen commission will be announced; the manner in which the Commission will be financed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20650/97]
The former Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht announced the establishment of a screen commission for Ireland on 4 June last. The preferred method of funding was to be from recoupments on loans advanced by the Irish Film Board since 1994. However, the reality was that these funds were not immediately at his disposal and that the screen commission could not — despite his announcement — be established, funded on this basis.
Because the loans being provided by the film board are co-funded by the European Union under the operational programme for industrial development, any decision to use recoupments for the purpose of funding the screen commission required the express approval of the European Commission. On 6 November last, at a meeting of the monitoring committee for the operational programme, at which the necessary technical decisions to allow the funding of the screen commission from this source were taken, my Department received oral approval from the Commission. I await the formal written confirmation of the Commission approval which, I understand, will not be operative until 1 January next.
In the meantime, I am taking the opportunity to meet with industry interests, RTÉ and the Irish Film Board itself to hear, inter alia, their views on their priorities for the screen commission and I will make my decision in the matter after giving careful consideration to all the issues raised.
