The Arts Minister has announced enhanced tax breaks for the film and television sector.

The changes are aimed at attracting major international film productions to Ireland and give the indigenous film sector a boost.

The tax breaks were originally announced in the 2014 budget, and is now being extended until the end of 2020. The changes see the value of Section 481 increase from 28% to 32%.

“I want to make Ireland a first choice destination for international film makers, and improving the tax breaks available under Section 481 will be essential to achieve this,” Minister Humphreys said.

“The Irish film and TV production sector supports up to 6,000 jobs; I want to see that number grow in the years ahead. The changes to Section 481 will give a greater deal of certainty to the Irish audiovisual sector and will allow it to maintain the existing jobs in the sector and create new ones,” she added.

The changes extend the definition of 'eligible individual' to include non-EU talent, to allow major Hollywood actors to be included.

Minister Humphreys says this new measure “will boost the attractiveness of Ireland as a destination for film investment” while also bringing Ireland “into line with the UK and other countries in Europe.”

Mentioning several high profile productions to have come to Ireland in recent years – including Star Wars and TV shows Tudors and Vikings - Ms Humphreys said that TV and film productions “make a huge contribution to the local economy” both through hiring local crew members and creative talent.

The changes may not be the final word on tax breaks for the industry, with Ms Humphreys saying she has, “secured a commitment from the Minister for Finance to keep these changes under close review, with a view to introducing additional improvements which would help further boost the indigenous film sector and attract big budget productions to Ireland.”