Screen Producers Ireland welcomes Budget 2024 investment into the Irish AV sector

Dublin, Tuesday, 10 October 2023: Screen Producers Ireland (SPI) welcomes today’s Budget Day announcement that the Section 481 Film and TV incentive cap has been increased from €70M to €125M. This announcement by the Minister for Finance, Michael McGrath TD is a real sign of confidence in, and support for, the Irish Film and TV production sector. SPI acknowledges the continuous support of Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD, and the National Screen agency, Screen Ireland, for the increase in the cap announced today.

The film and TV tax incentive Section 481 is essential to Ireland’s independent production landscape. As the representative body for independent producers in Ireland, SPI has long advocated for the S481 expenditure cap to be increased allowing our producer community to compete internationally to bring higher budget international productions to film in Ireland, delivering additional investment and high-value employment.

Susan Kirby, CEO at Screen Producers Ireland said, “Screen Producers Ireland has long advocated for the S481 expenditure cap to be increased and we are delighted to see the increase outlined in Minister McGrath TD's budget speech. It is a real sign of confidence and support by the Government for the sector and its potential to grow. The increasing of the S481 cap allows Irish producers to compete internationally and attract higher-budget international productions to Ireland. This will have the positive effect of increasing the potential amount of investment into the sector, growing high-value employment in the sector, improve overall economic benefit to the economy and supports Government's ambition to double employment in the screen sector by 2028.

The Minister has announced that engagement will soon take place with the European Commission about the potential for a fiscal incentive for unscripted productions. SPI, as part of our unscripted policy submission, recommended to the Department of Finance, that a further investigation of the potential of a fiscal incentive for unscripted production, in line with state aid rules, should be investigated. We look forward to engaging with the Department on this work over the coming months to understand what is possible to support unscripted production.

SPI also continues to support a regional support mechanism to bring productions outside of the Dublin-Wicklow hub. The S481 regional uplift has proven to be a boon for productions shooting outside the Dublin-Wicklow hub. Thanks to the extension of the 5% uplift announced in the Budget for 2021, there has been intensive production activity in Mayo, Donegal, Kerry, and Galway generating regional employment and substantial economic impact. Consideration needs to be given to the development of a new regional funding mechanism so that a new scheme can be introduced from 2025.”