Ardmore Studios is calling for the upper limit of €70m of the Section 481 tax incentive to be raised to attract more film production to Ireland.
Elaine Geraghty (pictured), CEO of Ardmore Studios and Troy Studios, said the incentive needs to be adjusted to ensure Ireland remains competitive globally.
“Section 481 allows Ireland to compete for international production investment,” she stated. “It is timely to look at that competitive landscape to ensure our incentive continues to attract scaled repeat productions that can further develop our skills and talent pool, as well as provide significant further fiscal benefits to our economy.”
Many of Ireland’s screen competitors such as the UK, Hungary, Australia and New Zealand no longer impose a cap on their screen tax credits.
To buttress its case, Ardmore/Troy commissioned another report from consultants PwC, following on from a previous S.481 report a year ago.
The latest PwC analysis claims that film, TV and animation productions supported by the Section 481 tax credit scheme delivered c.€470 in total economic contribution to Ireland in 2019, representing a return on investment of €3.80 for every €1 of tax foregone by the Exchequer.
The 124 productions availing of the €110m tax credits “enabled the employment of 16,950 full time positions”, according to the consultants.