Screen Ireland (Fís Éireann)

Screen Ireland (Fís Éireann in Irish) is the national development agency for the Irish film, TV, and animation sectors. Founded in its current form in 1993 as the Irish Film Board, rebranded to Screen Ireland in 2018.

What Screen Ireland does

• Develops projects through funding (script development, packaging, market access)
• Produces projects through funding (production loans, equity)
• Promotes Ireland as a production location internationally
• Administers the Skills Development side of Section 481 — the Irish scripted tax credit and Section 487A — the Irish unscripted tax credit
• Publishes the SI Competency Framework (with Screen Guilds of Ireland) — the canonical reference for crew roles and career levels
• Publishes the SI Priority Areas — sector skills deficits list — departments and grades where skills deficits are most acute

What Screen Ireland does NOT do

• Does not issue the S481 tax credit — that's Revenue — the Irish tax authority.
• Does not issue Cultural Certificates — that's DCCS — Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.
• Is not a broadcaster — those are RTÉ — Raidió Teilifís Éireann, TG4 — Teilifís na Gaeilge, Virgin Media Television, BBC — British Broadcasting Corporation, Channel 4.

Skills development authority

Where a S481 project's eligible expenditure exceeds €2m, the Skills Development Plan (Tab F) is submitted to Screen Ireland for approval. For S487A the review pathway splits at €1.5m: under €1.5m the Department (DCCS) reviews Tab F directly, over €1.5m it goes to Screen Ireland. Approval runs provisional, then final, then a compliance report after wrap; Screen Ireland issues the approval letters that the producer then attaches to their DCCS — Department of Culture, Communications and Sport submission.

Funding schemes

The big ones:
- Production Funding — production loans, equity, mostly for Irish indigenous productions
- Development Funding — script development, packaging, market access
- Distribution Funding — release support
- Skills Development Funding — direct investment in training initiatives

See the funder hub pages for the per-scheme detail.

Useful resources

• Funding Decisions database — Screen Ireland publishes every award decision in a searchable database filterable by fund, category, year and quarter. Producers use it to verify award amounts on past projects, set expectations on scheme ceilings, or cite a previous award when applying for additional funding. Reachable at screenireland.ie/funding/funding-decisions.

Contact

• General: info@screenireland.ie
• S481 skills: section481@screenireland.ie
• S487A skills: section487A@screenireland.ie
• Sustainability: sustainabilityadvisors@screenireland.ie