Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is not enough to support established theatre, that is, plays that we know will have commercial success and actors who we know will draw audiences because they are well known. My point is about new works, and venues that provide new works and allow artists to investigate, explore and interrogate themes relevant to the Irish psyche and culture, and that allow experimental works to happen. In the first instance, we must recognise the improvements of the financial circumstances of the Abbey Theatre. Nevertheless, Irish artists should not be sidelined by our national theatre. The Minister is acutely aware of the issues raised by theatre professionals in their open letter of 7 January 2019, in which the signatories criticised the production model of the Abbey Theatre and the over-reliance on staging co-productions, which has led to fewer actors being directly employed by the theatre and fewer in-house productions. They stated that this had a knock-on effect throughout the theatre sector. The issue was discussed at length at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht but I hasten to add that, unfortunately, it seems the commitments made by the Abbey Theatre at the time to employ actors directly and to produce new works have not come to fruition.

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