John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

As I have previously informed the House, I was authorised by Government to invite expressions of interest, by way of public invitation, from the private sector in participating on the basis of a public private partnership in the capital redevelopment of the Abbey Theatre in or around the vicinity of the site of the existing theatre. The accommodation brief for the new theatre specified the following requirements: to be a signature development representative of a national theatre in the 21st century; to be in an appropriate civic setting and form part of the overall urban regeneration represented by the O'Connell Street integrated area plan and the north-east inner city plan; three significant enlarged auditoria, the Abbey, the Peacock and a third multi-purpose space; a dedicated education and outreach facility; a publicly accessible archive; a restaurant-bar; improved public areas; disabled access for audiences and artists; and best practice theatre production facilities.

My preference would have been to redevelop the theatre at its current location. However, taking into consideration the requirements I have outlined, when it became apparent that excessive and costly additions to the existing footprint would be necessary to render the existing location suitable, I arranged for a trawl of other available city centre locations. As the Deputy will appreciate, suitable locations are in short supply. For a period it seemed a suitable site might be available at the former Carlton cinema in O'Connell Street, but it later emerged that this site was and continues to be caught up in legal complexities.

Last year a site was identified at Coláiste Mhuire on Parnell Square which it appeared might, along with an adjacent building, have provided the necessary footprint to meet the accommodation requirements of the redeveloped Abbey Theatre. Unfortunately, the owner of the adjacent premises was not prepared to sell them to the State for what my advisers considered a fair market price. In the circumstances, there was no option but to withdraw from the negotiations. The Office of Public Works has recently confirmed that the Coláiste Mhuire site on its own is too small.

I regret that our efforts to secure and announce a new location for the Abbey Theatre during the centenary year were ultimately unsuccessful. I assure the Deputy of my unrelenting efforts to identify a suitable location and I am in constant contact with the Office of Public Works to that end. I remain confident that a suitable site will be identified and acquired in due course.

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