"We don't get any feature films at the moment. We had a limited amount of low-budget feature films last year but I've really had no features of any consequence since King Arthur in 2003, " said Ardmore managing director Kevin Moriarty.

Despite the lack of any provision for the industry in the recent finance bill, he hopes the department of finance will expand tax breaks, which allow investors to write off a percentage of the production spend in Ireland against tax, to bring them into line with reliefs in the UK and elsewhere.

"While the government has been very supportive over a period of time, unfortunately it is a very competitive environment in the international film market, " he said.

Ardmore finished Euro1m in the red in 2005. Moriarty said it was "closer to break-even" in 2006. It benefited from some small feature films and the $30m US television series The Tudors starring Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Showtime, the US network behind The Tudors, is drawing up plans for a second series which Moriarty hopes will be shot in Ireland.