I welcome what we have just heard. It is an efficient and impressive presentation. I represent Deputy Upton at this committee and will be very glad to report to her. We have copies of the presentations which are more extensive and for that she will be grateful.
I had responsibility for film, among other matters, between 1992 and 1997. Section 35, which became section 481 later, covered everything including "Braveheart" and "Saving Private Ryan". My first positive wish for this afternoon is that this will be the last time people involved in the creative sector will have to justify their existence to any Government. I am not making a partisan point, but I recall my experience of having to fight every year for section 35. The view in the Department of Finance, which did such a successful job in contributing to the destruction of Ireland's reputation, was that the jobs were not real.
I would like the Arts Council to produce a short statement of all of the accountancy bodies which have studied this area, from Indecon, to PKN Parkins to PWC. The endless justification that the multiplier is better in regard to the spend on film than it is with the IDA goes on and on. It is geographically diverse because one can make a film anywhere. It is culturally important.
There is one small misprint in the documentation, which I have speed read, namely, the number of people who come as tourists to Ireland because they have seen it in a film. The figure given in the Mr. Smyth's presentation is 15% but I understand it is approximately 75% — it is a minor point. I want to make a few positive suggestions. I have problems with phrases like the "smart economy". I do not use it myself; it is a terrible phrase in Irish because "glic" is the Irish for "smart". It would be better to discuss the creative economy, which is full of opportunities.
I am more practical than many people think. It is this sector which has preserved Ireland's reputation. I am also speaking from a basis of practical information. I remember Garry Hynes reading Martin McDonagh's first script. This Friday, Garry Hynes and Druid will celebrate 35 years in Galway. How does that come about? It should be now accepted by all Departments, including the most backward such as the Department of Finance which I mentioned, that this area is for real.
It should also be accepted that this area is one where Ireland's reputation has been enhanced rather than damaged. When I had responsibility for film, the same number of people worked in the creative sector as worked in the banking sector. The figures were roughly equal, except that there were more women in the creative sector than in banking and it was not guaranteed employment. There was no such thing as compensation.
I want to come to some practical things because everything that has been suggested is dependent on a strong home base. I have been in the Oireachtas for nearly 25 years and we are still making the case for proper recognition of the work of the actor regarding social welfare legislation. I have to declare an interest; my wife is a member of Irish Equity but is not working or seeking work at the moment. The fact is that most actors spend most of the time unemployed.
Yesterday the Select Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment dealt with the issue of the Competition Authority. I made the case, yet again, that the Competition Authority sought the opinion of the Revenue Commissioners and concluded that because actors were not paying PAYE that they were undertakings and, therefore, could not be represented by their trade union. That was supposed to have been amended by section 4 of the Competition (Amendment) Bill. I am very basic about all of this.
It is good that the economy is now turning to a sector which it did not recognise for its best hopes for the future, but is it important that the truth be said, namely, that there were certain things which were never recognised. On the recognition of the creative sector in the school system and education, some years ago I remember receiving a letter from the then Department of Education to say that dance had nothing to do with physical education and forbidding people from attending a seminar on contemporary dance. There are changes at home.
Next Friday Druid will celebrate 35 years in existence in a lovely part of Galway. It is an area where Taibhearc na Gaillimhe is closed. It needs €300,000 because it had a fire. The suggestion is that it should move in to be a kind of overhead in a one stop shop for the Irish language, a decision which was made by somebody else. It is a beautiful theatre with a curtain designed by Micheál MacLiammóir where people have acted and so forth. It is the main source for the Irish theatre.
I will not waste time. Everything that has been said has a value entirely beyond money which is earned in exports. It is a crucial part of citizenship. I talked to Martin McDonagh about the early plays he wrote, watching television in a bed-sitter in London and so forth, and drawing on his memory of Ireland in the particular way he does. It was good that Garry Hynes was there to read his plays and put them on in a small theatre which had no home in Galway.
If people are going to say this industry is full of opportunities and whatever, one has to get the home base right and recognise that there are citizenship values. In a time of high unemployment people have more time. They are able to go to libraries more often. Being unemployed should not disqualify one from participation. Another important body is Bord Scannán na hÉireann, the Irish Film Board, which is located in Galway.
The presentations refer to New York and what it makes from the cultural sector. I examined the city and county development plans. Is there in those plans any reference to having one person half-time in the local authority in charge of licensing for somebody who wants to make a film? How would one close a road in Ireland to make a film? That is an integrated approach in regard to examining the structure of local authorities.
There was not much reference in what we have heard so far to Europe. I am not as competent now but I know the changes which were taking place in front of my eyes when I was president of the Council of Culture Ministers. American product was being dumped in Europe. Anyone interested in film has to be interested in what has happened regarding Europe. One cannot get an Oscar-winning film circulated on its own in Europe; one has to buy duds to go along with it in a basket of bad product. I am not anti-film, it just so happens that some of the best films of the world are made in the United States and, contrary to the late Jack Valenti, they are not all made on the west coast. Some are made in New York.
The European side of the industry also needs to be examined because it is a place where there are immense opportunities. I have great sympathy for young film-makers. I am sorry if I have gone on, but it is because I like this area.
I introduced the commissioning system for RTE. I am far from happy with the level of openness and transparency and way in which the commissioning system works in the Irish television sector. It must be looked at in regard to the security of young film makers.
When we were doing what I was doing in 1992, with the total support of various Taoisigh, including Mr. Albert Reynolds who had a flair for this, we had four people. The truth is that this is not just a moan on my part. I am delighted the group has made it into the sun, but there are practical things that still need to be done.
People used to say about actors who were working, "look at the cut of him," as if they were strutting with a full belly for the first time. Meanwhile the suits were emerging. As Minister, I remember going after refunds for the Irish Film Board and it was being said we could not let it go down a second time. Every young film maker was willing to prepare a business plan and a budget, but I would regularly receive calls from the investment community to say there were people in the business I should go to see. The suits did not want to know anything about film making, they could have been making galvanised steel buckets. My commitment is to the hugely important art form film making represents for citizens, an art form that is present throughout Europe.
I remember trying to obtain recognition for a course in FÁS that would enable things to happen. We have gaps to be filled such as in screen writing, which there is no doubt that the Government should fund. Instead, it states it has a new gimmick and will try to pull a stroke. The really powerful things I support are practical suggestions that might have come from Farmleigh House.
I am glad Mr. John McColgan and Mr. Gabriel Byrne are doing what they are doing. It is invaluable, if we really want to talk about the Irish Diaspora, to know who is sending what script to whom. It is crucial to see the inner and outer merging, that it is not just being done to replace exports. It is important that there be a sense of pride and imagination. When I stand for election, I say a lot of jobs have been created in film production. "Sure that is only the auld arts," some would say. The point is that while the chancers and the gamblers have brought the country to its knees, is it not wonderful to see those who have this wonderful capacity represent our best future?
