Move to attract more film-makers to Ireland

A major new initiative was launched today to encourage international production companies to shoot films in Ireland.

Under the Irish Film Board partnership several of the main service operators, including An Garda Siochana, Dublin City Council and the Department of Arts, vowed to work together to ensure multi-million-euro productions run smoothly.

Arts Minister John O’Donoghue said: “Film can be the best advertisement in the world for a country.

"Images of Ireland on screens large and small attract a large number of visitors to these shores.”

Film Dublin, which is based upon the model of the Office of Film in New York, is aimed at ensuring Dublin is an easy city in which to film.

Police Chief Superintendent at the Assistant Commissioners office, Michael A Byrnes, said the gardaí recognised the importance of filming and welcomed the new initiative. He said the gardaí would “play its part in streamlining the process of filming in this country”.

A $30m (€24.7m) Paramount Studios production of The Honeymooners has already used the services of the Film Dublin partnership to shoot on Dublin’s Amiens Street this month.

The gardaí and Dublin City Council will be assisting the producers during the shoot.

“Any initiative that helps make Dublin a more-film friendly place makes our job of attracting incoming productions easier,” said Andrew Lowe, an international producer with Jim Sheridan’s production company Hell’s Kitchen.

Mr Lowe, who worked on Omagh and the Laws of Attraction, said: “We need initiatives like this if we are to maintain our competitive edge.

“The Irish Film Board’s location services unit does a great job of both promoting Ireland as a location internationally while also working to make the country a more film-friendly place to come and work.”

The film board, which today launched its annual publication ‘Filmmakers’ Code of Best Practice’, said there were three major projects shooting or preparing to film in Ireland.

Disney’s $50m (€41.1m) project The Banshee and Royston Vasey, from Film Four, and Universal Pictures are also planning to come here later this year.

Some local productions include Stephen Bradley’s Boy Eats Girl with Samantha Mumba, and Neil Jordan’s Breakfast on Pluto starring Liam Neeson and Cillian Murphy, which used regional grants to film in Kilkenny.