Ireland–France co-production treaty

The Ireland-France co-production treaty is the most recent of Ireland's bilateral treaties and the most operationally distinctive — it allows a 10% to 90% per-party participation band, wider than every other Irish bilateral.

Signed in December 2022 by Ambassador Niall Burgess (Ireland's Ambassador to France) and Rima Abdul Malak (French Minister of Culture). The agreement's stated purpose: "to enable and encourage increased collaboration and production between both countries."

Key thresholds

The 10/90 band is the headline feature. Article 4(1):

The proportion of the respective contributions of each Party's co-producers may vary from ten (10) to ninety (90) percent of the total budget of the co-production.

Article 4(2) — technical and artistic participation must be proportionate to financial contribution. Derogations may be jointly allowed by the competent authorities on an exceptional basis.

When the 10/90 band matters

Most Irish bilateral treaties hold a 20/80 floor. For a project where the natural co-financing structure is sharply imbalanced — for example, an 85/15 IE/FR split where the French partner brings a specific funding instrument or talent commitment that doesn't justify a 20% financial share — the IE-FR treaty is the route that qualifies the structure where Canada / Australia / NZ would fail.

The flip side: France's CNC and Ireland's DCCS take a hard look at the proportionality requirement when the band is widely used. A 90/10 split with creative + technical contribution also heavily weighted 90/10 may pass. A 90/10 financial split with creative contribution at 50/50 will not.

Trilateral structures

The 2022 treaty text is silent on trilateral structures. There is no explicit trilateral provision in the way the Canada / Australia / Luxembourg treaties have.

If a third country joins, both competent authorities (DCCS + CNC) must be consulted, and the third party's treaty position with both Ireland and France verified. Plan trilateral structures with both authorities engaged from very early on.

Competent authorities

What's covered

Cinematographic co-production. Television and other formats are not explicitly excluded but the treaty's headline scope is cinema.

Pitfalls

How Togra supports this

The Co-Production Structurer runs the ie_fr_2022 scheme scorer with the 10/90 financial band (distinct from the 20/80 used by the other Irish bilaterals), sums-to-100% check, and proportionality check. The scorer reports the wider band explicitly in its pass message: "Note: 10/90 band — wider than the 20/80 used by IE-CA / IE-AU / IE-NZ." Trilateral structures route through the n-lateral engine with a partial-pass flag noting the treaty text's silence on the trilateral case.