Ashford Studios Apply For Supersized Expansion

€300m Greystones Media Campus Lies Idle as Ireland Turns Away Film Productions

Tánaiste Simon Harris urged to intervene.

GREYSTONES, Co. Wicklow │ 20 May 2026
The Greystones Media Campus Revival Group (GMCRG), chaired by Dermod
Dwyer, has called on Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris and the
Government to intervene urgently in the stalled €300 million Greystones
Media Campus project, warning that continued inaction risks damaging
Ireland’s ability to capitalise on record growth in the screen sector.
The group is seeking immediate targeted State engagement, not financial
support, to unlock a project that already has planning permission, committed
public investment, and a consortium prepared to invest.
The Greystones Media Campus, announced in 2022 by US developer Hackman
Capital Partners, was intended to be Ireland’s largest studio complex,
comprising 14 sound stages on a 44-acre IDA site under a 999-year lease. The
development carried a projected value of €300 million and was expected to
generate 1,500 permanent jobs. Construction halted in 2022 and has not
resumed.
Hackman Capital has since defaulted on many major US borrowings, including
a $1.1 billion mortgage on its Radford Studio Center in California in January
2026. The company has also failed to respond to a formal acquisition proposal
submitted by GMCRG in January of this year.
Ireland’s screen industry recorded €544 million in production spend in 2025,
up 26 per cent year-on-year, according to Screen Ireland. However, industry
sources indicate that a shortage of studio space has already resulted in
productions being turned away in 2026.
This capacity gap comes as the Government seeks to expand the sector
further, including the introduction of Europe’s first unscripted production tax
credit earlier this year.

GMCRG — Greystones Media Campus Revival Group

“The State is actively incentivising production without ensuring the
infrastructure exists to support it. The Greystones site is a fully permitted,
strategically located solution but it is currently inactive.” – Dermod Dwyer,
Acting Chair, GMCRG

In January 2026, GMCRG submitted a formal acquisition proposal by registered
post to Hackman Capital’s offices in Dublin and Los Angeles. The proposal was
also shared with the IDA, relevant Government departments, Wicklow County
Council, and local representatives.
GMCRG is calling on Tánaiste Simon Harris to use existing mechanisms,
particularly through the IDA’s lease arrangements, to compel engagement
from the current developer and facilitate a resolution.
The group is seeking information regarding the €24 million committed through
the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and a defined resolution timeline to
ensure the site is activated.
The international context underlines the urgency. Los Angeles soundstage
occupancy has fallen to just 62 per cent, down from mid-90 per cent rates as
recently as 2022, as productions migrate to cost-efficient international
locations. The five most popular filming destinations for the 2025–2026 season
are all outside the United States. Ireland is not among them — not because it
lacks the talent, the track record, or the tax incentives, but because it lacks the
stage space.
“CinemaCon in Las Vegas this month sent a clear message to anyone paying
attention. David Ellison took to the stage to announce that Paramount has
already doubled its output — from eight films in 2025 to fifteen dated for
2026 — and pledged a minimum of 30 films per year once the Warner Bros.
merger completes. Alongside that, the industry’s renewed commitment to
the theatrical window signals that the big screen is not retreating — it is
expanding. The studios are returning to volume production after years of
contraction — and tellingly, Los Angeles soundstages sat at just 62%
occupancy in 2025, meaning productions are already moving internationally
to find the infrastructure to meet that demand. The Greystones campus —
on a permitted, IDA-leased site, backed by producers and industry executives
within our own consortium — is exactly the facility this moment is calling for.

GMCRG — Greystones Media Campus Revival Group

We cannot afford to leave it idle.” – Richie Power, GMCRG Working Group
Member & CEO, Showtime Analytics

The Greystones – Wicklow corridor is already a central hub for Ireland’s screen
industry, anchored by Ardmore Studios and Ashford Studios. The addition of
the Greystones campus would significantly expand national production
capacity.
“Wicklow has been a magnet for film and TV production for 25 years, and
the streaming boom shows no sign of slowing demand. A world-class studio
here would meet a real market need while generating jobs and boosting the
local economy.” – Philip Murphy, Owner, Celtic Grips Europe Ltd and Kite
Film Studios, Wicklow.

The project also has broader regional implications. Wicklow has one of the
lowest jobs-to-workers ratios in the State, with significant outbound
commuting to Dublin. The delivery of 1,500 jobs would represent a material
shift in local employment capacity.
The Greystones Media Campus Revival Group (GMCRG), established in late
2025, comprises Irish business and industry figures with experience across
construction, media, and property development. The consortium’s stated
objective is to acquire the Greystones site and complete the development.
GMCRG is also aware of active efforts by IADT (Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art,
Design and Technology), Ireland’s leading film and media university, to
establish a satellite campus in the Greystones and Wicklow area. IADT has
already secured €12.8 million in European Commission funding through the
FilmEU Alliance and is a founding partner of the FilmEU European University
network.
A satellite campus located at or adjacent to the Greystones Media Campus
would create a genuinely world-class creative and production cluster with
stage space, trained talent, and EU-backed education infrastructure, all on the
same coastline. The EU structural funding pathways to support this are already
in place.
With planning permission set to expire in 2031 and no construction activity for
over three years, GMCRG warned that the risk is no longer theoretical.

GMCRG — Greystones Media Campus Revival Group

“The Greystones Media Campus represents a project of national importance,
positioning, and cementing Wicklow as a creative hub for film, television,
and digital production at scale. It is a missing and desperately needed piece
of the production puzzle and critical for Ireland’s long-term success.” – Conor
Harrington, Film Producer & CEO, Trinity Motion Pictures