A call was made for labour inspectors to investigate certain film production companies after allegations that one Dublin firm is paying employees just €3 an hour.
Aengus Ó Snodaigh (SF, Dublin South Central) told the Dáil of a post-production company that was breaching labour laws and "abusing young people by making them work long hours" for €3. Describing the actions as "scandalous", he said: "The same company appears to be placing people on night shifts regardless of whether they have already worked a day shift."
Mr Ó Snodaigh was speaking during a debate on the Irish Film Board (Amendment) Bill 2006, which increases capital spending and liability limits for the Irish Film Board from €101.5 million to €200 million.
The Sinn Féin TD said "the film industry has significant employment potential. Even though employment in the industry is not usually permanent because of the cyclical nature of film production, we need to ensure workers are fully protected. In that regard, the labour inspectorate should be asked to investigate the practices of certain companies."
Minister for the Arts John O'Donoghue, who introduced the Bill, said "there is a minimum wage here". Stressing the importance of the film board he said it had a "dual mandate to develop Irish film-making talent" and attract international productions to Ireland. It developed its strategies to assist film production from early stages to final completion and in the past five years an average of 630 people a year had professional training, with Screen Training Ireland and Fás.
"As is evident from the award of a short film Oscar for Six Shooter and the Palme d'Or for The Wind that Shakes the Barley at the Cannes Film Festival, these policies are working," he said. This latter film had a budget of €6 million with €500,000 from the film board and had become the highest grossing independent Irish film ever, earning €20 million worldwide so far.
Fine Gael spokesman Jimmy Deenihan said that Ireland was not attracting major films with budgets in the region of €100 million "even though we raised the cap and improved the incentives last year". He said the cap "must be raised, while a write-off of more than 80 per cent must be allowed".
The Bill was passed without opposition.
