A collective of TV and movie makers across the west of Ireland is calling for a €10 million government investment to save up to 4,500 temporary and permanent jobs threatened by the end of a regional tax break.
The Western Audio Visual Forum (WAVF ), a collective of stakeholders chaired by Ardán – formerly the Galway Film Centre - says a €10m package for producers in Budget 2025, would be an appropriate interim solution to address the lapse of the Section 481 Regional Uplift.
The Uplift, which operated between 2019 and 2023, resulted in the AV sector creating consistent employment, generating millions in direct spend in regional areas, and highlighted the potential viability of a sustainable audio-visual sector outside the dominant Dublin/Wicklow hub.
Revenue Commissioner figures show the total value of payments made under the Section 481 film corporation tax credit scheme in 2023 was €129.5 million.
Galway West TD Catherine Connolly (Ind ) has added her voice to to the campaign, asking if Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport, and Media Catherine Martin will “address the lack of strategy around regional screen production since the lapse of the Section 481 regional uplift?”
In its Budget 2024 submission, the WAVF says that at the height of the Section 481 Regional Uplift - at 5% in 2021 - it accounted for €124m of regional spend. This directly led to the employment of 1,941 crew, 369 cast, and 2,417 movie extras.
“Even in 2023, the final year of the Uplift, at a greatly reduced level of 2 per cent, projects were delivering immense benefits regionally. In 2024, however, with the uplift having lapsed, Ireland’s regional film and television production sector is facing a critical juncture,” the submission reads.
WAVF insists the Government cannot continue to ignore what is becoming a crisis in the industry in the West if the regional aspect of this tax credit is removed without replacement.
WAVF is demanding the reinstatement of a functioning, consistent, long-term Section 481 Regional Film Development Uplift, of at least 8 per cent for a minimum of ten years. This would stimulate regular regional production, provide long-term stability by maintaining a key crew base, and reduce shooting costs outside Dublin/Wicklow, making it more attractive to incoming productions.
WAVF is also calling for an interim, dedicated €10 million Regional Fund to sustain regional producers and writers to generate a pipeline of creative content, enhance regional production capabilities, and ensure geographic spread of production.
The vibrancy of the West of Ireland film and TV hub has been highlighted by international hit RTÉ/Hulu series Obituary. Filmed primarily in Donegal, its first season employed 140 crew, 11 trainees, 54 cast, 133 extras, and generated 3,900 accommodation nights. The series sold globally and brought significant foreign investment into the region with 50 per cent of its finances coming from overseas. Season 2 sees BAFTA-nominated Máiréad Tyers joining the cast.
The latest West of Ireland productions include RTÉ’s award-winning documentary Ireland’s Wild Islands; upcoming features, Four Letters of Love, starring Pierce Brosnan, Helena Bonham Carter, and Gabriel Byrne; Cry from the Sea, starring Dominic Hooper; and recent successes That They May Face The Rising Sun, Fidil Ghorm, The Watched, Blackshore, My Sailor, My Love, Banshees of Inisherin, God’s Creatures, North Sea Connection, and Smother.
