Business

Revenue granted €130m in movie tax credits last year

Movies starring Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan among those to avail of section 481 credit

Frida Gustavsson as Freydis in Vikings: Valhalla, which is filmed in part in Co Wicklow. Photograph: Bernard Walsh/Netflix

Gordon Deegan
Mon Jan 22 2024 - 17:00

Movies starring Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan were among the big winners in the section 481 film corporation tax credit scheme for the Irish movie and TV production sector last year.

New figures provided by the Revenue Commissioners show that the value of payments made under the section 481 film corporation tax credit scheme in 2023 was €129.5 million.

The 2023 total was a slight increase on the €127.2 million in corporation tax credits paid out in 2022 under the scheme.

Netflix hit Valhalla was the only production to secure tax credits in the €10 million to €30 million bracket last year for season three of the Viking drama shot in Co Wicklow.

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The figures show that series two of The Tourist, starring Jamie Dornan, qualified for tax credits in the €5 million to €10 million range last year.

A movie adaptation of acclaimed novelist, Claire Keegan’s best-seller, Small Things Like These, starring Oscar tipped best actor nominee Cillian Murphy, received between €2 million to €5 million in movie tax credits.

The movie, set in an Irish town at Christmas in 1985, also stars Ciarán Hinds and Emily Watson and is to receive its world premiere when it opens the 74th Berlin International Film Festival next month.

Another production featuring Dornan, Borderline received tax credits of between €2 million to €5 million.

In the action thriller produced by Shinawil Ltd, Dornan plays an IRA operative sent to London in the mid-1970s – the production company put out a call for extras to feature in the film where parts of the drama were shot in Dundalk.

Productions to receive tax credits in the final quarter of last year include two productions by Telegael Teoranta, Cat & Keet 2 and Pierre the Pigeon Hawk, which each received tax credits in the €1 million to €2 million range.

Last month, the multi-award winning Brown Bag Films received tax credits of between €2 million to €5 million for Eva the Owlet and for Lu and the Bally Bunch.

Other productions to receive tax credits in 2023 include Cocaine Bear and season two of crime drama, Kin.

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan is a contributor to The Irish Times

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