The Irish film industry held its collective breath on Tuesday when the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse turned up to deliver the latest austerity budget. Most interest was focused on the fate of the Irish Film Board.

As things worked out, the capital budget for the body was announced at €16 million for 2011, a 3 per cent cut from 2010. The administration budget has been reduced by 12.3 per cent to €2.4 million, bringing the total budget cut for the board to 4.4 per cent.

IFB chairman James Morris reacted thus: “The combination of ambitious, creatively driven Irish projects and high-profile international productions is set to continue into the year ahead on the basis of today’s budget.”

One might, perhaps, interpret that to mean “it could have been a lot worse.”