Tax cut warning for TV, film jobs

THE bulk of the 4,300 people working in the independent television and film sector face unemployment or emigration when Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy axes a special tax incentive, it was claimed yesterday.

Also, up to 1,000 film and TV graduates are looking at a very uncertain future, Screen Producers Ireland (SPI) told key educators yesterday.

SPI believes that 80% of production work in Ireland will quickly come to an end if the Section 481 tax incentive is removed.

Andrew Lowe, joint head of the SPI Film sub-committee, said the industry is deeply concerned that film course students, as well as the industry’s existing skilled workforce, will be faced with unemployment or emigration if Section 481 finishes at the end of 2004.

“Ireland’s film industry has achieved much success over the last ten years through sustained partnership with the Government. Ireland is now one of six preferred locations in the world for film production, due to a large extent to the positive influence of the Irish tax incentive scheme.

“Without a tax incentive, Ireland will no longer be considered for international film productions and Ireland’s indigenous industry will suffer, which in turn will have a catastrophic impact on employment in the sector.”

Mr Lowe was speaking at a briefing for lecturers from the main Irish universities and other institutions at the Irish Film Institute in Dublin’s Temple Bar.

An SPI report found that the industry employs 4,300 people directly.

“The industry is now at a stage where its talent pool is sufficiently experienced to be able to support four to five feature films at any one time.

"With the number of high-calibre film-related courses now available in Ireland, I would expect the skills base to grow even further in the coming years to the extent where the film industry could feasibly expect to employ up to 11,000 people directly,” added Mr Lowe.

SPI estimated that the Irish film industry contributes 107m annually to the country’s GDP and attracts an average of €136m annually through foreign inward investment.