Screen Ireland, the country’s film agency, has announced the first measures to support the national film, television and animation industries. The body has been constantly monitoring the development of the COVID-19 global pandemic and has acknowledged the unprecedented state of emergency for the country’s creative industries.

As part of the organisation’s initial commitment, several important measures have been confirmed. First of all, Screen Ireland will provide 90% funding up front on all development loans to Irish screenwriters and production companies up to 31 May 2020. Secondly, existing development and production loan offers that are due to expire in the coming months will all be extended until the same date.

Next, Screen Ireland promises to provide additional marketing and distribution support for upcoming Irish film and TV releases during this period. Lastly, the body ensured that it would also keep on providing opportunities for skills development for industry practitioners, with Screen Skills Ireland delivering some of its planned activities for 2020 online and free of charge over the next six to ten weeks.

Speaking about the current operations, both Screen Ireland and Screen Skills Ireland confirmed that staff would continue to work remotely and that all of the usual funding schemes would remain available, highlighting that the “application process across all areas, encompassing development, production, distribution and publicity, will continue as normally as possible”.

Most probably, further measures will be announced in the short and long term. In the meantime, Screen Ireland confirmed its continuous commitment to protecting the national audiovisual sector and its close co-operation with international partners, key decision makers, minister Josepha Madigan, and the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in order to assess the potential scale of the impact.