Movie and TV features top €129m in tax credits

October's budget raised the cap for productions qualifying for the 481 tax credit scheme to €125m in expenditure

"The Tourist" starring Jamie Dornan qualified for Irish tax credits of between €5m and €10m.

Movie and television features starring Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan were among the big winners from the Section 481 film corporation tax credit scheme. 

The figures from Revenue show there was €129.5m in total payments under the scheme last year, up slightly from €127.2m in 2022. 

A movie adaptation of bestseller "Small Things Like These" starring Oscar-nominee Murphy received between €2m to €5m in movie tax credits from the Irish tax authorities. The movie, which is set in an Irish town at Christmas in 1985, also stars Ciaran Hinds and Emily Watson. 

The second series of "The Tourist", which stars Dornan, qualified for tax credits of between €5m and €10m, according to the Revenue figures. Series 2 of "The Tourist" which is currently being screened on BBC 2 features Dornan as an amnesia-afflicted car crash victim struggling to piece together his past life. Filming of the second series started in Ireland in April last year.

"Borderline", a production also featuring Dornan, received tax credits of between €2m and €5m. In the action thriller produced by Shinawil, Dornan plays an IRA man sent to London in the mid-1970s. 

Netflix hit, "Valhalla" was the only production to secure tax credits in the range of between €10m and €30m for Season 3 of the Viking drama. Shot on location in Co Wicklow, "Valhalla" is a spin off of the successful "Vikings" series. 

Other production to receive tax credits in the final quarter last year included two features that Telegael helped to make, "Cat & Keet 2" and "Pierre the Pigeon Hawk". They each received tax credits in the €1m to €2m range.

Brown Bag Films received tax credits of between €2m to €5m for "Eva the Owlet" and for "Lu and the Bally Bunch".

Other well known productions to receive tax credits included "Cocaine Bear" and Season 2 of crime drama, "Kin". Sharon Horgan’s "Bad Sisters" received tax credits of between €2m and €5m. 

The Government in October's budget announced that the cap for productions qualifying for the 481 tax credit scheme would be raised to €125m.

The former version of the scheme provided a 32% corporation tax credit on qualifying expenditure for films or television productions made in Ireland, up to a spending limit of €70m.