Response to comments by Senator Micheál Carrigy

September 20th, 2023

The council of the Irish Professional Photographers & Videographers Association (IPPVA) has issued the following statement in response to comments made by Senator Micheál Carrigy in the Oireachtas media hearing on September 13th, 2023:

The Irish Professional Photographers and Videographers Association (IPPVA) wholeheartedly supports Beta Bajgart in condemning comments by Senator Micheál Carrigy in an Oireachtas media hearing last week, where he demonstrated a clear lack of respect for (and ignorance of) the skill, craft and artistic endeavours of professional photographers everywhere. 

Professional photographers are facing increasing challenges to their businesses and their craft – including the ever-growing use of unpaid user-generated content in lieu of professional imagery, the widespread misuse of images on social media, and AI threatening to undermine the authenticity of pure photography. 

In these times, the IPPVA respectfully invites elected representatives to use the platform afforded to them in the Houses of the Oireachtas to support our industry through such challenges, rather than undermine it with ill-considered comments like those expressed by Senator Carrigy. 

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The IPPVA was established in 1949 and is a not-for-profit association representing professional photographers and videographers across Ireland in a wide range of genres.