A DIRECTOR and screenwriter who sits on the Irish Film Board has been awarded a total of €217,000 in development funding during the past six years.

Kirsten Sheridan, the daughter of the six-time Oscar-nominated director Jim Sheridan, was approved by the board for eight development and production loans during the past five years.

Sheridan sits on the board of the Irish Film Board and has claimed fees of almost €25,000 from the organisation since 2005.

The Irish Film Board said it had strict guidelines in place to prevent any possibility of a conflict of interest but some industry sources have privately expressed unhappiness at the arrangement. Sheridan declined to comment.

In 2005, Sheridan was awarded €40,000 in funding for two films: Some Rain Must Fall and It Could Be You, both of which remain in development.

Two years later, the director – who has made two films, Disco Pigs and August Rush – was awarded €30,000 in grants for two projects: It Could Be You again, and Faith.

Sheridan, as producer, was also part of a team awarded €74,000 in production funding that year for a short called Bua, which was made into a film.

In 2008, the 33-year-old director was awarded another €20,000 in development funding for Some Rain Must Fall, which is being made by Blindside Films.

Last year, Sheridan was awarded another €10,000 for Some Rain Must Fall and a further €40,000 in funding for If You Could See Me Now.

Of the eight projects for which she received funding, only one of them – Bua – was filmed.

Kirsten Sheridan was nominated for an Oscar, with her father Jim and her sister Naomi, for writing the screenplay for In America.

A statement from the Irish Film Board said: "It is important to note that Irish Film Board funding is a loan, not a grant. All development funding gets repaid when a project moves into production... The board is made up of industry representatives and must have conflict-of-interest rules to deal with applications by board members.

"When an applicant wishes to apply to the Irish Film Board for funding they must have a meeting to discuss the project with one of the production executives assigned to them to determine if the project is ready for a full application.

"The executive then, as a collective, make recommendations on project funding which then goes to the board for approval.

"If a board member has any association with the project, either directly or through a production company, the board member does not receive any documentation on the deliberation – they are benched from the process entirely and the conflict of interest is noted."