The Stage

Abbey likely to move sites

Published Monday 1 March 2004 at 15:45

Dublin, Eire

Irish arts minister John O’Donoghue has admitted that the new Abbey Theatre is unlikely to be built on its existing site because of the difficulties and cost of acquiring adjoining properties.

He told parliament in Dublin on February 26 that while a final decision had not yet been taken, he was coming to the conclusion that “it may not be possible for us to proceed with the construction of the new Abbey at its present location”.

The statement is a major disappointment to the theatre, currently celebrating its centenary, as it inevitably means further delays on a new building that was first mooted back in the mid-nineties. As one critic put it: “If the saga of the Abbey’s attempts to get a new building were a play, the theatre would reject it on the grounds that it has gone on too long and has too many implausible twists.”

One of those twists came three years ago, when the Abbey board accepted the offer of a free site for a new national theatre at Grand Canal Quay, in the Dublin docklands. The decision upset Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who did not want to see the Abbey move out of his north city constituency and was quickly reversed.

Instead, the Ahern government officially backed the redevelopment of the Abbey on its current site, holding out the possibility that adjacent properties could be acquired, if necessary. However, two years later O’Donoghue has now told parliament: “The indications are that such acquisitions will prove very costly and problematic in timescale.” He added that he had “no hang-ups” about the theatre moving to a new location if the current Abbey could not be expanded.

Jimmy Deenihan, arts spokesman for the Fine Gael opposition party, asked if alternative sites in the city were being sought. He pointed out that the site of a former cinema in O’Connell Street had been mentioned and building the new Abbey there would make it part of the regeneration of Dublin city centre.

The minister replied that a site search had not been started but promised an early decision on the location of the new Abbey.