16/12/2002

According to a report just published by the Audiovisual Federation of the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC ), a total number of 175 audiovisual productions were made in Ireland in 2001 for a total production value of 259million Euros, a 21.8 per cent increase on 2000. Among those productions were Spyglass Entertainment Reign of Fire, the biggest film project ever undertaken in Ireland and this year’s Golden Bear winner Bloody Sunday.
The share of Irish financing represented 43 per cent of the Euros259m total funding with the tax incentive Section 481 amounting for the largest single source of Irish funding at Euros69.2m (27 per cent of funding), in spite of a 15 per cent drop from 2000.
For the first time since 1994, non-Irish funding (mainly US) was greater than Irish funding. Indeed, the largest non-Irish source of financing came from US investments with Euros93.8m or 37 per cent of total funding. According to the report, Rob Bowman’s heroic fantasy film Reign of Fire largely contributed to the substantial US investment in the Irish film industry, more than twice the Euros40m registered in 2000. But the director of the Audiovisual Federation Tommy MacCabe also warned local film professionals, saying that “the current incentives on offer in Ireland for TV and film production are significantly less attractive relative to a large number of other EU member states, Canada and Australia. Ireland is therefore less competitive as a location for film and TV production vis-à-vis its main competitors and this could have implications for the ongoing development of the industry”, he stressed.
MacCabe also pleaded for new media and animation, major sectors of growth within the Irish audiovisual industry, to be included in the Council of Europe’s Cinematographic Convention which regulates co-production treaties.
The IBEC Audiovisual Federation report called ‘The Economic impact of Film Production in Ireland-2001’, is the ninth of its kind drawn up under the auspices of key Irish film organisations in including The Irish Film Board, broadcaster RTE, Irish Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, Film Makers Ireland and the Animation sector.