Concerns have been raised about the future of a €300m film studio planned for Greystones in Co Wicklow because three years after the project was launched, there has been no sign of progress.
Locals say there is a lack of information about what is happening to the site, and expressed concern about the €24m of taxpayers money committed to the project.
They say if the media campus, which was expected to create 1,500 jobs, is no longer viable, the land should be used for other business purposes.
Plans for state of the art studio and production facilities on the 44 acre site were unveiled to much fanfare in 2022, promising to build Ireland's largest TV and film campus, which was to have begun operating in 2024.
A consortium called Hackman Capital Partners took a lease on IDA land for the Greystones Media Campus for 999 years at just under €600 a year
Louise Gaskin, Chair of the East Wicklow Business Network, says her members are concerned about the lack of progress on the site and the "void" of information about the project.
"It would bring a lot of community employment and it would bring for businesses locally, huge economic development.
"Lying idle, it's becoming an ugly site, overgrown, just lying there doing nothing.
"First of all we were being told it was about the actors strike going on. Then we were told it's commercially sensitive. Then we're getting blanks.
"No one's coming back with information. So who has the information? Someone has to know something."
Ms Gaskin said that if there are questions about the viability of the project she would like to see the lease agreement revoked and the land put to other business use.
Since the launch of the Greystones Media Campus three years ago, planning permission has also been granted for a large media campus in South Dublin called Dublin Fields.
However, those in the industry say that the facilities at Greystones are still badly needed.
Larry Bass, Founder and CEO of ShinAwil Productions, says the lack of studio space in Ireland meant that his company had to build a new studio to film Dancing With the Stars when it returned after Covid-19 lockdowns.
He said that, despite global uncertainty and the threat by Donald Trump of tariffs on the industry, Ireland's film industry personnel remain in demand, but the lack of studio space is a barrier to attracting productions here
"Apple, Amazon, Netflix, the BBC, the big American networks, these studios will all still, thankfully, be creating new shows.
"We're an English language country, we've got a fantastic crew base.
"It has evolved from, maybe five or six thousand people working in the industry 20 years ago to over thirty thousand people, highly skilled, highly sought after.
"All we need is the raw material, the place, to build. And you know, this has never been a truer statement. If you build it, watch them come," says Mr Bass.
The Department of Finance said that while investment is likely to be on a phased basis, it cannot say how much of the €24m committed to the Greystones Media Campus has been spent to date.
It also says that the current minister has not had any engagement on the project from the Irish Strategic Investment Fund or the consortium behind it, Hackman Capital Partners.
A spokesman for the consortium said that they will make a statement on the project in the coming months.
