Dáil debates

Thursday, 17 February 2005

3:00 pm

Photo of Jimmy DeenihanJimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
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Question 3: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the position regarding the acquisition of a new site for the Abbey Theatre; the reason the Government failed to announce a suitable site during the theatre's centenary year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5405/05]

Photo of John O'DonoghueJohn O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)
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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.

Photo of Jimmy DeenihanJimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
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It seems strange that on 1 December the Minister indicated that the OPW had recommended a site and that he was going to put this site forward to Cabinet and did not, as a result, want to announce details about it. Surely the OPW would have reached agreement on a price with all property owners at the location, Coláiste Mhuire, before that recommendation was made. What went wrong? Was agreement not reached before the Minister's announcement or did the OPW only make its offer to the property owners following that announcement?

Photo of John O'DonoghueJohn O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)
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When I stated that we hoped to identify and announce a site in the centenary year, I was confident that the Parnell Square site would be acquired in its entirety by the Office of Public Works. The OPW was also confident in this regard. However, as the Deputy is aware, the OPW was unable to acquire the site at what it regarded as a fair price. The owners of a portion of the site, 1 Granby Row, which we failed to acquire, indicated to the Office of Public Works that they required substantially more in the way of money. The OPW was satisfied that the amount being sought was considerably more than the market value and entirely unreasonable. In those circumstances, we withdrew from the negotiations.

Nobody should be under the illusion that it is possible, just because the State is involved in a bidding process, to extract more than a property is worth. We are obliged to safeguard taxpayers' money and that is precisely what we did in this instance. That does not mean that we will not be in a position to site the Abbey Theatre elsewhere. However, I will not waste taxpayers' money.

Photo of Jimmy DeenihanJimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
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Is Coláiste Mhuire, which is a good site in a good location, off the agenda? In light of the motion passed by Dublin City Council regarding the Carlton Cinema site, is that site back on the agenda for consideration? Are other sites being considered at present? I read a newspaper report in which it was stated that the GPO might be a possible site. Will the Minister confirm that all sites are up for consideration again? Will he confirm that the Coláiste Mhuire site has been eliminated? Are the Carlton Cinema site and other sites up for consideration?

Photo of John O'DonoghueJohn O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)
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Coláiste Mhuire is in public ownership. The difficulty is that this is not the position in respect of 1 Granby Row. If the latter were to come back into the equation at market value, we would reconsider it. However, this appears to be unlikely.

The Carlton site on O'Connell Street is, prima facie, ideal for a new theatre. The difficulty is, however, that there are legal difficulties attaching to the site and it does not appear that it will become available in the short to medium term.

The current Abbey Theatre site requires a major extension of the footprint. It appears that time and cost would make that option less than desirable and it may, in fact, be completely unviable. The Hawkins House option remains in play and a number of other options are also available.

The Parnell Square site, without 1 Granby Row, does not meet the accommodation brief. Since this is the case, it could not be considered unless 1 Granby Row came back into play. I asked the Office of Public Works to reconsider the situation and I am awaiting a further report from it. Due to the commercial sensitivities involved, Deputy Deenihan will understand why I do not want to go into detail in respect of which sites might be suitable.