Film Industry
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-18
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Richard Boyd Barrett (PBP), Dún Laoghaire

On the work of crew, this survey was responded to by 800 workers. Has the Minister or Deputy Byrne seen it? No, because Screen Ireland has seen it but they have not published it because it paints a very unflattering picture. The words used by the film workers include, "Producers' reluctance to give the crew their full needs", "night shoots and rest days that aren't paid properly", "tight schedules", "long hours", "being hired as a trainee when there are no leads or assistants", "overly long work day", "budget constraints", "ageism", "professional development and progression not happening", "grade progression", "stress and hours", "continuity of employment", "pay", "stress" - it goes on. It was suppressed, effectively, because the people who did this survey do not want the Minister or anybody else to know about the outcome. Stagehands are in the High Court which found in their favour that their rights under the fixed-term workers Act are not being vindicated because of the DAC structure being abused by film producers in a way that means workers in the industry can never accumulate rights under fixed-term workers legislation. On buyout contracts, Equity made absolutely clear it wants PACT-Equity agreement. It is compliant with EU legislation. It has said this repeatedly. Whoever is telling the Minister they do not want it is not telling the truth.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:29+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-18