There was a time when the presence of a single movie camera and a Z-list Hollywood cast could be guaranteed to make front page news in Ireland. Now, thanks to the streaming giants and a hunger for new content, anywhere up to 25 productions are filming here at any one time. The industry has truly blossomed since the days of The Quiet Man and Ryan’s Daughter, and not least in terms of economic impact.
The Republic’s audiovisual industry is estimated to contribute €1 billion in gross value added (GVA) to the economy. Between 2021 and 2023, it supported more than 15,000 full-time-equivalent jobs.
Despite unprecedented disruptions and challenges facing the industry globally, in 2024, Irish screen production had a total spend of €430 million on local employment, goods and services – representing a 33 per cent increase from the previous year.
Not all of the benefits can be measured in euro. “For us, the impact of the Irish screen industry in recent years has been much broader – it encompasses international acclaim for Irish creative talent and projects, generating what felt like a global cultural interest in Irish stories on screen and the Irish language,” says Desiree Finnegan, chief executive of Screen Ireland, the state development agency for the film, television and animation industry in the Republic.
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Recent studies have cited the Irish audiovisual sector as a “strong generator of cultural value”, Finnegan says, pointing to the transformation and success of Irish-language cinema in recent years as a “perfect example”.
An Cailín Ciúin is a case in point. In 2022 the movie made history as the first Irish-language feature film to be nominated for an Oscar and, in terms of cinema release, became the highest grossing Irish-language film of all time.
Internationally, this has a multiplier effect in terms of “screen tourism”, says Finnegan. According to Tourism Ireland research in 2024, 26 per cent of tourists coming to Ireland indicated that film, television and travel shows were a source of travel inspiration.
Of course, with issues such as Covid, inflation, and the US writers’ strike, the sector here hasn’t escaped global setbacks, some of which are ongoing.
“There are many challenges that are affecting the screen industry on a global basis, with unprecedented disruption in recent years, a highly competitive marketplace and changing models in audience viewing habits, storytelling formats and distribution models,” says Finnegan.
She suggests the best way through such tumult is skills building.
“It’s essential to ensure Ireland has a highly skilled workforce across the screen industry and strong infrastructure to support it. Screen Ireland has made significant progress in recent years with our skills development strategy, in particular the establishment of a National Talent Academy Network, based in key locations around the country. However, it remains crucial to keep pace and continue to innovate,” she cautions.
With US president Donald Trump having threatened to impose tariffs on non-US produced films however, the sector will also need resilience. So far, the details of any such proposals have remained scant, which is why the industry’s response has been muted.
“Screen Ireland and the industry here remains committed to the deep creative relationships that have been built with our US and international production partners [and] will continue to work together with industry partners at home and internationally,” says Finnegan.
The Government has at least been doing its bit. Minister for Arts Patrick O’Donovan recently launched an enhanced Section 481 tax credit aimed at mid- to lower-budget films, called Scéal. It provides for an additional 8 per cent uplift to the existing 32 per cent tax incentive available for film and television and is available to feature films with a budget of less than €20 million.
It dropped alongside a new Screen Ireland Irish-language film-development fund, called Smaointe, which supports Irish production companies as they develop creative projects in the Irish language.
The uplift was something that Audiovisual Ireland, Ibec’s industry lobby group, had called for in its 2025 pre-budget submission, alongside greater investment in regional skills development and funding measures to support regional production. Currently a disproportionate amount of film-making takes place in Dublin and Wicklow.
Activity in the sector was strong during Q1 of this year, with around 15 productions shooting here, according to Torlach Denihan of Ibec. He is particularly welcoming of the Government’s intention, also signalled in Budget 2025, to monitor trends in the post-production VFX – visual effects – sector here, an area in which Ireland punches above its weight.
“We have VFX companies here that have been involved in some of the biggest projects globally, such as Screen Scene, Egg and others that have done a lot of really high-quality international work,” says Denihan.
The French government currently offers a tailored incentive for VFX – worth up to 40 per cent in tax rebates – which he believes should be emulated here. “It’s another bit of the jigsaw,” he says.
So is the need for skills. According to Screen Ireland’s economic report, published in January, shortages currently exist in senior roles across production departments, with critical skills gaps identified in specialised roles such as production accounting and editing, as well as for writers and directors experienced in Irish-language production.
The demand for technical roles is coupled with a need for multi-skilled professionals who can navigate various production types, highlighting the importance of versatility in the workforce.
The integration of data analytics and artificial intelligence into content creation further underscored the need for ongoing professional development, to keep pace with technological advancements, the report stated.
As network manager of the Cultural and Creative Industries Skillnet, Gareth Lee sees first hand what skills are required and seeks to provide the training required to gain them. He believes Ireland’s film sector is in good shape, with live-action production in particular rebounding after the lulls of Covid and the writer’s strike.
While the streaming services cut back on what, before 2022, had seemed an endless splurge on content, it too is “picking back up”, he says.
The impact of AI – which could either be a threat to creativity or a boon to productivity, depending on who you talk to – is a growing topic of conversation in industry circles. But for Lee the bigger challenge the industry faces “is just a general uncertainty”, he says. As always, the risk is that uncertainty could have a dampening impact on investment.
Set against that are many reasons to be cheerful. “We have the tax credit, we have a very skilled and talented workforce and a lot of the work we have produced here or worked on here in Ireland, has led us to have a very good reputation globally as a collaborative workforce that works well with others,” says Lee, who believes this is a critical time to invest in people, skills and talent.
“It’s about investing in our own intellectual property, our strong tradition of storytelling and creative work. Now is a good moment to do that, to build a sustainable sector, a whole ecosystem, where there is a constant flow of continual jobs for everybody,” he says.
Odyssey Studios in Limerick is already experiencing such a flow. The company specialises in model and prop making, as well as set building. It works on top-notch international productions and also runs its own training academy, partnering with Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board to provide fully accredited further-education courses.
For founder Mark Maher, who started out as a model maker on The Hobbit trilogy, living in New Zealand for eight years, business couldn’t be better. “We’ve just finished season two of Wednesday Addams and are working on a fantasy show called The Wayfinders, in Troy Studios,” says Maher.
He set up the business in 2017, employs 30 people, and has plans to open a sister studio in another part of the country, if he can only find the time.
He already has a second business, Arachnid FX, which sells prop-making materials such as silicon and resins to others in the film industry . If he was a movie, he’d be a blockbuster.
“We’re flat to the boards – things are going great,” he admits. And it’s not just him. “Ireland has some of the best film crews and the most seasoned,” he says. “That goes from construction to make-up and hair – the lot.They’re the best in the world.”
