Screen Producers Ireland calls for increased supports in 2025 Budget

Dublin, 18 June 2024: Today, Screen Producers Ireland (SPI) is submitting its 2025 pre-budget submission, asking the Government to continue its investment into the independent production sector to ensure continuity and address specific issues. SPI’s 2025 recommendations seek to enable the sector to become an even greater player in terms of creative and cultural output in screen content production.

The Irish screen content production sector is central to the creative industries in Ireland.  It is also central to Ireland’s cultural life and its story telling, both for audiences in Ireland and internationally. It is the engine for the growth of the creative industries in Ireland, which currently contribute an estimated 3.73% to Ireland’s Gross Value Added, below the EU average of 5.54% of GVA. The opportunity to catch up, through the growth of the screen content production sector should not be missed. (Figures from the Digital Creative Industries Roadmap 2024-26 published by the Minister for Culture and Media in January 2024).

As evidenced by the last year, Irish screen content and Irish stories matter and are being heard. There is an appetite for indigenous Irish content that serves the population of Ireland and overseas. SPI has a vision for the sector that sees an increase in the development of indigenous Irish productions, increased investment through incoming productions, and more Irish stories being told.

In this document, SPI calls for (recommendations outlined below):

• Supports to national broadcasters, RTÉ and TG4, without which the independent production sector would struggle to produce quality, indigenous programming;

• A much-needed regional development plan, to ensure growth outside the Dublin/Wicklow hub and support an all-island industry;

• Fiscal incentives for production including the unscripted production incentive, a response to the recent UK tax incentive, and attention to the Section 481 Gaeltacht Uplift;

• An introduction to the AVMSD content production levy;

• An increase to Screen Ireland’s capital fund by €5M; and

• Fund specific rounds of the Coimisiún na Meán Sound and Vision Fund on climate change and emerging voices content.

Anthony Muldoon, Director of Strategic Policy at SPI said, “Funding of Public Service Media is key to the growth of the independent production sector in Ireland. Over the last number of years, the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD, has consistently increased the TG4 budget which has led to an increase in funding available for the Irish language sector across the island of Ireland. This consistent approach is now needed for RTÉ. The sooner a decision is announced on how RTÉ is to be funded, the sooner RTÉ can move out of crisis mode and implement the recommendations of its new direction strategic policy document.

We have been working with the Departments of Finance and Culture, as well as Screen Ireland, on the policy development of the proposed unscripted fiscal incentive for the last number of months. We are very hopeful that the Finance Bill will contain provisions for its introduction. There is a significant domestic potential that can be unleashed once the incentive is open for applications in 2025.”

Regarding recent changes to the UK tax incentive, Anthony Muldoon also stated, “The new UK 40% net tax relief (up from a net 25%) for Independent Feature Films under £15M confers a considerable competitive advantage on the UK film production sector. While the plan to introduce the relief was only announced in March 2024, it was fully legislated for before the general election in the UK was called at the end of May. It is now in place and can be availed of by productions in the UK, including Northern Ireland. In order to safeguard the production of films in Ireland in the immediate future, it is imperative that the Government responds to match it by increasing Section 481 funding from 32% to  40% for  feature films, TV dramas, documentary and animation with global budgets of up to €20M.”

The report can be viewed and downloaded in full here.

ENDS

For media queries please contact:

Orlaith FitzGerald

Communications Manager

communications@screenproducersireland.com

087 262 3726