Irish Film Board budget slashed

The Irish government are set to reduce the Irish Film Board's funding by 12.5%.
The Board's administration budget will be reduced by 1% to €1.584m, while their capital and training budget will be cut by 14% to €9.153m. While the Film Board lobbied for a repeat of this year's funding, it is not expected to seek to improve their allocation between now and the Irish budget day on December 4.
Tania Banotti, outgoing director of producers' organisation Film Makers Ireland, said: "FMI had campaigned for an increase in the Board's capital fund, so a drop of 14% is very disappointing from the industry's point of view, and will obviously have an impact on what the Board is able to do next year. We intend to fight this up until budget day."
In a statement issued in response to the announced figures Irish Film Board CEO Rod Stoneman said: "These are clearly tough figures, but they must be understood in the context of the severe reduction in public spending and a difficult economic climate overall. It is as a result of the serious work of the new Minister and the Department of Arts that there is continued support for the development of the Irish film industry. We indeed are committed to the delivery of our planned programmes within these parameters - they will be workable."
Commenting on his reduced allocation to the Irish Film Board, the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, John O'Donoghue, said that it "must be seen against a background in which the Board's funding more than doubled over the five-year period 1997-2002."
He went on to reiterate his government's commitment to the strategic development of the film industry, and to the Film Board's role in that process.
(GB)