Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 25 Nov 1998

Vol. 497 No. 3

Written Answers - Film Industry Development.

Michael D. Higgins

Ceist:

173 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands the total sum expended on film production in Ireland in each year since 1987; the total sum on which tax relief was sought in each year since 1987; and the number of films completed or in production. [24898/98]

Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands (Miss de Valera):

As the question is a statistical one the information is in tabular form and will be circulated in the Official Report. The Deputy will appreciate that information relating to the years 1987 to 1992 is not readily available to my Department.

Table 1.

Amount expended on film production.

	Number of films certified	Irish Spend
		£m
1994	11	44.8
1995	48	73.9
1996	31	53.2
1997	32	78.7
1998 (to date)	32	81.9

Source: The number of films certified for Section 35 relief (now Section 481 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997).

Note: Certification of Section 35 assisted projects was first required under the Finance Act, 1994 and did not commence unitl July of that year.

Table 2.

Total sum on which tax relief was sought.

Tax year in which relief was sought.	Amount on which tax relief was sought.
	£m
1993-94	43.6
1994-95	82.8
1995-96	42.9
1996-97	30.3
1997-98	46.1
1998-99 (to date)	34.5

Source: The Revenue Commissioners.

Table 3.

Number of films completed or in production.

	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997
Feature films, major TV dramas and animation.	16	18	27	25	21
Other independent television productions.	n/a	43	70	95	83

Source: IBEC Reports “The Economic Impact of Film Production in Ireland” for the years 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, with provisional figures for 1997.