Mullingar film studio 'put on ice'

Plans to develop Ireland's largest film studio in Mullingar have been “put on ice”, according to one of the main people behind the project.

Mullingar Studios executive Tom Dowling says global events such as the actors and writers strikes, the war in Ukraine, as well as high interest rates and construction costs, means that the plan to construct a film studio on the outskirts of Mullingar has been put on hold until conditions improve. The first phase of the project was granted planning permission in 2022.

Speaking to Will Faulkner on Midlands 103 yesterday morning (Monday), Mr Dowling said that with government support the project will eventually go ahead.

“We have had a war in Ukraine. We've had rising interest rates. Pretty much everything has gone the wrong way in the last two years.

“It is steadying down on the interest rates scene. It appears to be capping off at the moment. Construction costs have levelled off as well. They haven't come down but they've levelled off. In terms of a speculative development, it wasn't a great time to proceed with the building. It's pretty much been on ice since then.

“My discussions have been around talking to various ministers to see if we can get support from government to get this project off the ground, because if we get it off the ground it's going to reap huge rewards for the midlands and for the country as a whole.

“We can see where the film industry is going, it is on a trajectory. We just need to invest a little bit more money into it at this stage so that we can reap those rewards in four or five years time, and we will.”

Acknowledging the support that the government has given the film sector in recent years, Mr Dowling says that if additional funding is provided, projects such as the the film studio planned for Mullingar will thrive.

“The government has invested a serious amount in terms of tax incentives to develop the sector but |I think it's time to go a little bit further than that...We need to grow our studio base, that's one of the things I will be saying to the local ministers in Westmeath and also at a national level if they come in and support us in getting that studio off the ground.”

When phase one of the studio was granted planning two years ago, the developers estimated that up to 1,000 production jobs would be created when the second phase was operational.