The Gate Theatre in Dublin has not received any Arts Council funding for the past 11 months, even though the council's annual report lists the theatre's grant for this year as £600,000.
The council confirmed yesterday that none of this grant, which would have been a repeat of the 1999 figure, has yet been paid to the theatre because it is still attempting to reach agreement with the Gate on what its role and agenda should be.
The Gate has for many years received the second-largest Arts Council theatre grant, exceeded only by the Abbey. The council's Artform Director, Mr Dermot McLaughlin, paid tribute to the Gate's track record but said funding decisions must be made on the basis of the council's Arts Plan, which the Government had adopted.
He said every client receiving a grant had to satisfy the council on quality, excellence and the level of support it provided for artists. The client had to "correlate" with at least one of the following aims: developing audiences, developing the arts in an international context, or building up capacity in the arts sector. The Gate had not yet come up with a plan which did so this year.
The Gate's artistic director, Mr Michael Colgan, told The Irish Times last week that no Arts Council funding had been received this year, but declined to discuss the situation further pending a meeting between the Gate and the Arts Council last week.
The Irish Times made repeated, but unsuccessful, efforts to speak to Mr Colgan this week. A request for a comment from any other member of the Gate management, or representative of the theatre, did not elicit any response yesterday.
Mr McLaughlin said the council was having discussions with the Gate on how the theatre was developing the talents of writers, actors and technical people as well as its backstage facilities and what contribution overseas touring made to its activities.
"It's not the Gate's money. We're talking about public money in the stewardship of the Arts Council," Mr McLaughlin said.
The council has the power to allocate interim funding to cultural institutions when their grant decisions have been delayed. However, in the case of the Gate, Mr McLaughlin, said this had not been necessary. As a result, the theatre has been running as a self-funding, commercial venue for the past year.
The Gate had a deficit in 1994, but has run at a profit since and has substantial funds at its disposal. By 1996 it had accumulated profits of £360,000. Accounts filed in the Companies Office show that it recorded a profit of £150,000 in the year ending 1998, and £100,000 in 1997.
Asked whether the Arts Council was not pillorying the Gate for being successful, Mr McLaughlin said: "We have to give regard to what organisations actually need."
Founded in 1928 by Hilton Edwards and Micheal MacLiammoir, the Gate is one of the State's most prestigious cultural institutions. Many of its greatest successes have been within the term of the current artistic director, Mr Colgan, who was appointed in 1983.
Among these have been Oscar Wilde's Salome, directed by Steven Berkoff in 1988; Joe Dowling's production of Sean O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock; Barry McGovern's one-man show adapted from the work of Samuel Beckett, which took New York by storm in 1989; and Adrian Noble's 1990 production of Chekhov's The Three Sisters, with Niamh, Sorcha and Sinead Cusack as well as their father, Cyril.
In 1991 the Gate staged all the dramatic works of Samuel Beckett, and the festival toured to acclaim to New York in 1996 and to London last year.