The sector experienced a boom from the late 1980s to mid-1990s but is now forced to look for work outside the Republic to fulfil its potential, writes Karlin Lillington.

When the Academy Award nominations were announced at the end of 2002, not just one, but two Irish films were up for nomination in the same category: Short Animated Film.

The category was new and, for most Irish people, so was the discovery that not only did this country have an animation industry - albeit small - but one of considerable calibre.

The nominated films were Brown Bag Film's charming rendition of one of the Bible narrations recorded years ago by children in the Liberties, Give Up Yer Aul' Sins, and the moodier Fifty Percent Grey by young animator Ruairí Robinson.

Neither film took the final prize but reaching the shortlist was a staggering achievement and the films opened many eyes to a talented corner of digital media in the State (most animation these days is computer-produced).

"There are a huge number of animators in Ireland," confirms Mr Scott Dyer in Toronto, Canada.

Mr Dyer is executive vice-president, production, with Nelvana, one of the largest animation production companies in the world - a small operation in Shannon handles European distribution.

"And there is an animation history in Ireland that is of great interest."

It's true: from the late-1980s to mid-1990s, the Republic became home to several major operations producing animated cartoons and full-length films, for studios such as Disney. The best known of these was established by famed former Disney animator Don Bluth, turning out hits like An American Tail and The Land Before Time.

The big studios left by the mid-1990s as cheaper Far Eastern countries provided a better labour option and large studios became financially cumbersome to run. Irish animators either formed small companies here or dispersed across the world to pepper the global animation industry with Irish talent.

But the Oscar nominations, and the Government's emphasis on supporting the digital media sector through investment in projects such as the Digital Hub, has raised some hopes that the Republic can expand its international digital media film and animation profile.

The sector is a broad church, including special effects, post-production, commercials, feature film animation and computer games animation, says Mr Michael Kenna, development adviser in digital media with Enterprise Ireland.

"We've always seen it as a growth area, but the difficulty has always been one of scale," he says. Companies are very small - from two to 10 people.

"It's also quite a high-risk area. It's hard to encourage investment because it's a slow area for return."

In response, Enterprise Ireland is considering creating specialist venture funds for digital media companies, he says, and he points to the new digital media company incubator in the Digital Hub, which opened earlier this month.

Animation companies seem unsure of what role the State should take in promoting the digital media sector. Countries such as Britain, Germany, Canada and France give large subsidies to film and animation, notes Mr Cathal Gaffney, director at Brown Bag, and he doesn't think it either likely or logical to have similar levels of support here.

"But it's hard to get a start in the business. Salaries are high, and software and hardware and the costs of setting up make it hard. More Government support to start up with would help," he says.

Companies also have to look outside the Republic for work to survive.

"It's a such a small market here. At best, it's terrible," he quips.

Brown Bag is doing work - film and commercials - for Channel Five in the UK, for Nickelodeon in the US, and in Saudi Arabia.

Animators do need to look abroad as it's unlikely that the big studio model, with jobs concentrated within the Irish market, will return, says Ms Thelma Chambers, course co-ordinator for a new four-year degree in animation at Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT).

"It is part of our history, but it's not a useful model for comparison now, because it's been gone for so long," she says.

With 20 students in the degree's first year intake (more than 800 applied), she says IADT's goal is to develop a course in consultation with industry - inside and outside the State - teaching a broad range of skills. Graduates may go into games development, special effects, film-making or Web design, she notes.

Agreements between Europe and Canada, among other animation nations, allow for beneficial joint productions where each country can get supportive funds and tax breaks, says Mr Dyer.

"We continue to look at the Irish side with interest" for joint productions, he says, although he feels the companies here may be too small for large projects - something Mr Gaffney disputes, pointing to Brown Bag's Nickelodeon work and other Irish joint ventures.

Film post-production - once touted as perhaps the major area for potential digital media growth - has lost some of its shine. Mr Kenna says that Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland have had flickers of interest from the US film industry in recent years but nothing has gelled.

Yet long-distance digital post-production using broadband connections back to Hollywood is a boom industry in Britain, notes Mr Charlie Pritchard, director of the Digital Media Centre at Dublin Institute of Technology. "We seem to have all the right characteristics too, but we never seem to be able to develop the sector. I don't know why."

Mr Andrew Kavanagh, who worked for Brown Bag, is an animator who has spun off his own animation company, Cavalier, one of the first companies to go into the Digital Hub incubator. "You can see the \ money is being put into it," he says. "But it may not be enough if the support isn't there for projects to get off the ground."

Irish animation work hasn't been promoted well abroad by the sector, he says, something that is necessary to help build an international profile and a healthy industry. "We've actually got to be thinking globally."

He believes Irish animation has recognisably distinct qualities, which are remarked upon abroad, and will help define the nascent industry here. "Irish animation is a lot more literate, concerned with narrative and script. We don't write as animators, we write as film-makers," he says.

"It's still a small and growing industry, and there's huge demand and interest from students in animation," says Ms Aileen McKeogh, head of the IADT. She is in favour of greater Government support for the sector. "If we could develop a critical mass of animation companies in the Hub, it would bring incredible notice to Ireland. But we're only part way there."

"It's really down to the individual companies to make it happen themselves," says Mr Gaffney. "Subsidies are a support, but they're not the solution."