The Irish Arts Council has appointed Jane Doolan to the new part time consulting role of Film Specialist. She will be responsible for developmental work and for providing policy advice to the Arts Council on film.

The Arts Council is a major source of funding in Ireland for cultural organisations such as The Irish Film Institute, film festivals and resource centres for film-makers. It has recently been examining models for increasing the production funding it makes available for innovative artists working with the moving image.

Siobhan Bourke, the Council's previous film advisor will remain in the role of Cultural Cinema Advisor to the Council until the early summer, retaining responsibility for the Cultural Cinema Consortium and the Council's Ireland/Wales cinema research project with Sgrin, Cardiff.

Jane Doolan joined Little Bird In 1989 and was co-producer on Into The West, (director Mike Newell, writer Jim Sheridan); producer of The Brother, a one man show based on the works of Flann O' Brien; associate producer of In The Border Country, (director Thaddeus O' Sullivan), and associate producer of Moondance, (director Dagmar Hertz).

She founded Ireland's first independent theatrical and video distribution company Clarence Pictures in 1996, distributing over 200 films on behalf of PolyGram, FilmFour, Icon and other independent distributors, as well as releasing many Irish films.

Doolan established Mammoth Films in April 2002 and the company currently have three feature films in development. She is a consultant and acquisitions executive for Xtra-Vision, the largest video retailer in Ireland. Her most recent feature film credit is as executive producer on Spin The Bottle, a low budget Irish film which has taken Euros 0.5m at the local box office since it was released towards the end of last year.