A jury has been established to select the winning design for the new national theatre, Minister for Arts John O'Donoghue told the Dáil.
He said the jury would comprise representatives from his own department, the OPW, the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, the Arts Council and the Abbey Theatre.
"When a winning design has been selected, the building will be procured by means of a build, finance, maintain public-private partnership. A construction phase of approximately 18 months is envisaged once the public-private partnership, PPP, contract has been signed."
Fine Gael spokesman Jimmy Deenihan said the impression was given last September that the competition would commence immediately. "This saga has been going on for the past 10 years. The National Theatre is operating in antiquated conditions which is not fair to the performers, artistic directors or patrons. It is time that this saga was brought to a close."
Mr O'Donoghue said it was impossible for him to say how long the PPP would take.
"The PPP contract is complex, as we learned during the development of proposals for the national conference centre. It is a lengthy and complex method of procurement." The OPW was working on a detailed technical specification for the competition in regard to the Abbey, he said.
"I had hoped we would be in a position to present the new design this summer. I remain hopeful that will be the case."
Mr Deenihan said the Minister was being very ambitious in terms of presenting the new design this summer, given that the competition had not yet been announced.
