Stars take action roles in film tax-break campaign

IT was a case of “lights, cameras, political action” as many of the country’s best-known film stars turned out yesterday to lend support to the campaign to retain tax incentives for the Irish film industry.

Stars take action roles in film tax-break campaign

Leading actors Aidan Quinn, Victoria Smurfit, Stephen Rea and Alison Doody increased pressure on the Government as they signed a petition organised by the actors' union, Equity.

They were joined by several home-based celebrities including Bachelor's Walk and Ballykissangel star Don Wycherley and David Wilmot, of the new RTÉ drama series, The Clinic.

Equity claims the removal of the tax incentive is threatening the Irish film industry at a critical stage in its development.

The high-profile campaigners claim the tax break, known as Section 481, has been instrumental in enabling the industry to grow 18% each year over the past decade.

US-based actor Aidan Quinn, who is currently starring in the highly-acclaimed film Song for a Raggy Boy, described proposals to remove Section 481 as "astonishing".

Mr Quinn pointed out that probably for the first, three Irish-made films In America, Intermission and Song for a Raggy Boy were simultaneously major hits both among critics and at the box-office.

"It has taken that long to build up to this point. There is a hunger among people to see movies about their own country and not action films from America," he said.

However, Quinn stressed that it was professional film crews rather than high-profile actors who would suffer most from any removal of the existing tax breaks for film production.

His comments were echoed by the star of About A Boy and Trial and Retribution, Victoria Smurfit, who said many successful Irish films such as Michael Collins would not have been made without tax incentives.

"Everybody in the industry has worked very hard to get where Irish film is well recognised and successful. I just don't understand the business sense of taking that away," she said.

She warned that some productions had already been lost to the Isle of Man because of Ireland's growing lack of competitiveness as a film location.

Tristan Orpen Lynch, spokesman for Screen Producers Ireland, claimed that proposals to remove Section 481 made no economic sense on the basis that it would leave Ireland as the only EU country without such a tax incentive.

"There is very real potential for the industry to grow even further in the next 10 years, to the extent that total employment numbers could rise from the current number of 4,500 people to 11,000 people by 2010," Mr Orpen Lynch said.

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