The Abbey Theatre welcomes the announcement by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht detailing their plans for investing in Ireland’s National Cultural Institutions which includes a future redevelopment of Ireland’s national theatre.

The current building is over 50 years old and is widely recognised as being seriously deficient in the facilities it provides for artists, audiences and staff and in terms of its energy efficiency. The Abbey Theatre has been seeking to find a solution to improve this situation, for more than a decade.

Following widespread consultation, we are currently finalising a detailed business case for a major new development which will be submitted shortly to the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

Commenting on the announcement, Directors of the Abbey Theatre, Graham McLaren and Neil Murray said

‘We are delighted with today’s announcement which takes us on another significant step on the road to a new national theatre for the people of Ireland. Our ambition is to build an iconic, welcoming building on a site which incorporates our present site at the junction of Abbey Street and Marlborough Street, and stretches down to open out on Eden Quay facing onto the River Liffey. A theatre has existed on this site since 1834 and we are pleased to see this tradition continuing with the creation a new cultural centre in this part of the city.’