The Stage

Goverment will not come to aid of Irish film industry

Published Tuesday 31 August 2004 at 11:10 by Anthony Garvey

Dublin, Eire

Arts minister John O’Donoghue has ruled out any special measures to revive the Irish film industry, currently experiencing a worrying decline in major production projects.

The main opposition party in the Irish parliament, Fine Gael, has called for emergency action, pointing out that not one feature film was shot in Ireland in the first six months of the year, with the industry restricted to small-scale home productions and TV work. The party’s arts spokesman, Jimmy Deenihan, warned: “If the government doesn’t get its act together soon, film and television production in this country will be a thing of the past.”

He called for the reconvening of a film industry expert group that, some years ago, had recommended a series of measures to develop the sector, including generous tax incentives. The Irish industry, he claimed, was now struggling to survive against competition from countries such as New Zealand, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Isle of Man and urgently needed a revival strategy.

But O’Donoghue insisted that the problems facing the industry would have to be solved by the industry. The government, he said, had extended to 2008 the tax breaks for investing in film production and was increasing to 15 million euros from next year the amount of investment on which tax relief could be claimed. In addition, the Irish Film Board had been given a 9% increase in funding and was providing “a comprehensive range of supports to the industry”.

The minister added that he intended to travel to the US shortly to promote the industry and to spead the message that Ireland is an attractive movie location for American producers.

A $30 million Paramount comedy, The Honeymooners - based on the old Jackie Gleeson TV series - and a Neil Jordan film of Patrick McCabe’s Booker-nominated novel Breakfast on Pluto are due to start shooting at Ardmore Studios in the next few months. But they are the only substantial features in the pipeline.

“Both these productions are certainly welcome,” said Ardmore’s managing director, Kevin Moriarty, “but a more consistent flow of projects is needed to sustain a studio and an industry.”