The Irish film industry is understood to have escaped savage cuts to its Government funding after this week’s emergency budget.

The Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism, which is responsible for the Irish Film Board, has seen its budget cut by $15.2m (Euros 11.5m).It is thought that some areas of the department will see severe cuts butfundingfor thefilm industry suffer as badly as first feared. A detailed breakdown will be announced on April 21.

The Irish government resorted to an unprecedented second budget in order to address a drastic shortfall between the money raised from tax - estimated to be worth $45.1m (Euros 34m) - and its $86.2m (Euros 65m) 2009 spending programme. Among the wide range of increased taxes and spending cuts that were announced on April 7, it cut a total of $477m (Euros 360m) was chopped from the budget for social and health services.

It is not clear what the cuts will mean for Screen Training Ireland, the industry training body, it was not allocated a budget for 2009 but discussions on its future were expected to be concluded within weeks.

The government has taken a hard line on recruitment, promotion and working practices in the state sector, including agencies such as the Film Board. Such areas have escaped the cuts experience elsewhere because of the role they play in creating jobs.

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