The role of the state towards the film industries in Ireland is marked by a dichotomy of thought: between supporting a small indigenous industry and simultaneously encouraging a larger production industry marked by foreign direct investment policies explicitly focused on attracting runaway or inward investment productions. The role of history of the development of the Irish tax expenditure policy in shaping this indigenous versus inward investment ecology illustrates the complex and changing understanding by the state of audiovisual cultures. This chapter develops a LPE-inflected critical policy analysis approach to the interrogation of key policy interventions in Ireland towards the film industries since 1987, including analysis of policy, reports, data and key literatures and audiovisual productions to identify the role of tax expenditures as a form of state support for the industry.