24/10/2013 - The 2014 budget for the national agency for the Irish audio-visual production sector suffers 5.7% cuts

The overall budget for the Irish Film Board (IFB), the national agency for the Irish audio-visual production sector, has been cut by 5.7% bringing it to €14.03 million for 2014. This funding is broken down into the capital and administration budget for the agency. The capital budget has been announced as €11,277,000 for 2014, reduced from €11,989,000 in 2013. This represents a cut of 5.2%. The administration budget for the agency is €2.7 million, decreased from €2.9 million in 2011 - a cut of 7.5%. Since 2008 the annual budget for the agency has been cut by 39.5%.

In spite of the funding setbacks, the IFB has managed to keep going. In 2012, the IFB invested in 30 film and television projects which led to €118m being raised in foreign direct investment by Irish producers on IFB funded projects. Some €80m of this was invested directly into the Irish economy through the purchase of local services and employment.

Recent successful features include The Stag [+see also:
trailer
film profile] that premiered at Toronto, Last Days On Mars [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which was selected for Directors Fortnight in Cannes, and The Hardy Bucks Movie that was a local box office success.

Major international productions being produced in Ireland this year with the support of the IFB include Penny Dreadful co-produced by Octagon Films and Quirke starring Gabriel Byrne developed and produced by Element Films and Tyrone Productions.