The Government has met its responsibilities in maintaining Ireland as an attractive film location, the Minister for the Arts, Mr O'Donoghue, has insisted in the Dáil. Marie O'Halloran reports.
He said it was up to the film industry "to address those factors within its control that are considered to render Ireland less attractive for film production".
Responding to Opposition concerns about the reports that the State was no longer a favoured location, Mr O'Donoghue said he intended to "try to organise a trade mission to the western side of the United States of America with a view to promoting Ireland as a destination for film production." Labour's arts spokesman, Mr Jack Wall, who raised the issue, suggested the Minister should organise a trade mission and asked what the Government was doing to "reverse the shunning of Ireland by the major movie giants and production teams", following reports that "costs have rocketed for those films which are in production".
Mr O'Donoghue denied the Irish film industry was being shunned. "In fact, Ireland is an extremely attractive location for incoming film producers and productions."
"While wage costs appear to be a difficulty, the matter must be dealt with by the industry itself. There is very little one can do about exchange rates and the value of the euro against the US dollar. I have no control over the fluctuations on the money markets," he said.
The Minister for Finance had extended the section 481 tax incentive to 2008 and increased the limit on funds to be raised to €15 million from next year, he said. This was "the best news that the industry has received in many years", and he was "confident that the benefits will be seen in the near future".
Fine Gael spokesman Mr Jimmy Deenihan said there was cause for "serious concern and action. Surely the fact that no feature film has been shot in Ireland in the first six months of 2004 makes its own statement." He said New Zealand, Hungary and the Isle of Man had improved on Ireland's incentives and "a significant problem has been the uncertainty generated around it (the incentive) over the last year. The wrong signals were sent to the film industry and while the section has been restored, nothing more has happened to incentivise the Irish film industry." But the Minister disagreed. The increase in the incentive "could not send a stronger signal to the international film community about Ireland's intention to develop the industry and our desire to attract inward investment".
He stressed that "we can only control those things which are under our remit and maintain the highest standards in those areas in which we have power".