The chairman of the Abbey's centenary sub-committee, Mr John McColgan, has described 2004 as a "good year" for the theatre despite its financial troubles.
Speaking at celebrations yesterday to mark the 100th anniversary of the first performance at the Abbey, he said: "The year has highlighted how dramatic the need for change is. There is new blood coming in and a new way of thinking. I think it has been a good year for the Abbey. It has been a wonderful catalyst for the future."
While the theatre has had its "ups and downs", he said the board had taken comfort in the public's support. The Government had also been enormously supportive and had a "real commitment" to the Abbey's future in a new location.
The chairwoman of the board of the Abbey, Ms Eithne Healy, said she believed a new location would be announced next year by the Minister for Arts, Mr O'Donoghue, who was "committed to the redevelopment of the theatre".
The board felt "we are on the cusp of a major opportunity, not only to effect the necessary change but to secure the theatre's future with a clear remit and secure funding in a significant 21st century building. "The building is a major issue for us. But it is really what happens in the theatre and in the building that will always be the most important thing that we have to do.
"Today is a positive day. We have had our negative days in the Abbey. It's been controversial. But I've now decided that 'controversial' - that word in terms of theatre - is not a negative word. If the Abbey had not been, and is not controversial, it would then possibly be anodyne and uninteresting and it is anything but that.
"We have had a great amount of media attention. The coverage has been intense, frequently unflattering, but mainly very fair. The coverage spread from the arts pages to the news pages and often enough even onto the front pages. In response to this, support from the general public has been overwhelming."
Artistic director Mr Ben Barnes also paid tribute to W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory, "without whose vision, brilliance and commitment the idea of a national theatre might well, in those turbulent times, have been stillborn." He said the theatre had "given a voice to the nation and told the story of the people back to the people with an uncompromising quest for truth and not a little irreverence".
"From the Playboy of the Western World to Hinterland, the Abbey has played a provocative role which frequently takes it off the arts pages and onto the news pages.
"And even though it may sometimes be uncomfortable to be the subject of so much vitriol...it is nonetheless compelling testimony to the fact that the Abbey for good or ill is firmly embedded in the consciousness of Irish people everywhere."
