Dominic Hannigan (Labour)

I am glad of the opportunity to speak and welcome the Minister of State. I agree with many of the other speakers that the Abbey Theatre has a legacy which must be honoured with the building of a fitting and tasteful structure capable of housing the quality productions we have come to expect from the theatre. The Minister told us earlier this month that the Government is now committed to building at George's Dock and that the new theatre will be a public private partnership, PPP.

It is essential the choice for the redevelopment of Ireland's national theatre is suitable and that the location is appropriate for a proper theatre facility. It must reflect the importance of theatre and the role it plays in Irish culture. The Abbey Theatre must be the flagship theatre for the country.

I am not convinced the location is wrong. I do not believe it is necessary to have the Abbey Theatre in the city centre. Reference was made earlier to the Sydney Opera House which is not on Oxford Street, Sydney, but in Beenelong Point. The Albert Hall is not on Oxford Street, London, but in Kensington.

The site must be able to cater for the demand of people going to it. It needs good transport links and to be accessible and well signposted. Its current location is beside a Luas stop and many buses pass by. As long as similar facilities are provided in George's Dock, I do not see a huge problem. We expect to see improved transport links to Spencer Dock, which is close by, and this will help. Transport links can be included as a condition of planning approval. I will push for that but I do not have a huge problem with the location.

I agree with the former Minister, the Ceann Comhairle, Deputy John O'Donoghue, who spoke about the issue a couple of years ago. When he was Minister he said the facility should be a modern theatre complex with up to three stages — a main stage and two similar smaller stages — which, in effect, would be similar to the existing situation with the adjoining Peacock Theatre and that this would help nurture the rapidly growing number of small theatres in the Dublin region and allow them access to this stage. Since the unfortunate closure of Andrews Lane Theatre, access to smaller stages has become more difficult. Hopefully, the redevelopment will help to fill that void.

The new Abbey Theatre needs to be able to cater for mainstream theatre productions and to house new and innovate sets and lighting designs. If it does that, it will go a long way towards meeting the needs of the city.

I refer to the plans for the old Abbey Theatre site. Will it be sold off? If so, does the Government have a specification for what the site should contain or will it simply be sold off whereby the market will decide? The plan for the new site is a little open-ended. The Minister of State said it will be a PPP and that it will be a design, build and maintain. Who will own the theatre? Will there be any stipulations in the tender documents as to whether potential developers will have to hand back the site after a minimum period of time? Will it be left to developers to come up with ideas on it?

We need to see some risk transferred. The whole propose of a PPP is to transfer risk to the private sector. We could do that by doing design and build. I am not convinced about the maintenance aspect. We have seen PPP failures here in the past, including the recent public housing one. I worked on a PPP in the UK, Metronet, which folded during work on the London underground. I am not convinced this is the way forward and we need to be sure it is clearly thought out before we go down this route. It cannot be an excuse to remove expenditure from the capital budget and transfer it to ongoing operating costs. I would appreciate hearing the Minister of State's comments in that regard.

I am very excited about the new theatre and hope the Government engages in this redevelopment with proper foresight and planning. I look forward to seeing a new Abbey Theatre opening in the next few years.