Yet again, the Government has left the Abbey looking like the last one to know where its theatre will be redeveloped, writes Victoria White, arts editor
The Abbey yesterday welcomed the Government's decision to proceed with the re-development of the theatre on its existing site. However, the Minister for the Arts, Ms de Valera, did not consult the theatre before making the decision.
Although the Minister told the Dáil in early November that it was her preferred option that the theatre be re-developed on its existing site and that she had been meeting the Abbey's board of directors on this matter, she had had no formal meeting with the board for over a year.
After this long delay, yesterday's announcement came hot on the heels of strong criticism, published in this newspaper a week ago, of the Minister's lack of communication with the theatre by the chairman of the Abbey Board, Mr James Hickey. The venting of the Abbey's frustration was criticised by the Minister in newspaper reports at the weekend. She said the "premature airing of the issues in the public domain ... is not helpful."
More embarrassing still for the theatre is that the announcement follows just days after a comment by the artistic director of the Abbey, Mr Ben Barnes, again published in this newspaper, that there was a "distinct possibility" the theatre might move to the Carlton Cinema site on O'Connell Street.
The Abbey's criticism of the Minister, taken from a letter sent to the Department last month by Mr James Hickey, focused on the Minister's delay in articulating to them her own preference for the theatre. This, they claimed, had resulted in a PR disaster for them last February, when they stated their desire to move to Grand Canal Harbour, only to be upstaged by the Taoiseach's insistence that the theatre should remain on the northside.
The theatre had communicated its preference for the Grand Canal Harbour site to the Minister the preceding October. The Minister had not suggested to the theatre that this option would not be viewed well at Government level.
When the theatre stated publicly its desire to move to Grand Canal Harbour last February and was faced with the Taoiseach's criticism, it found itself in a very difficult situation. "The obvious conclusion", went Mr Hickey's letter, "had to be that Mr Ahern and his officials had not been kept advised of developments by the Minister and her Department (or if he had, his views on the matter had not been communicated to the Board)."
At a subsequent meeting arranged by the Minister with Dublin City Council and the City Manager, Mr John Fitzgerald, it was clear that the Council felt strongly that the Abbey should remain a part of redeveloping the O'Connell Street area, but, as Mr Hickey wrote, "No such view had previously come from the Minister or her Department."
In fairness to the Government, the option of redeveloping on the existing site is the only one ever to have received official sanction. In March 2000, the Taoiseach approved the rebuilding of the theatre on its site at a price of €50 million. However, that August two city centre sites, at Spencer Dock and at Grand Canal Harbour, were offered to the Abbey free of charge.
The Minister toured the available sites. She requested that the theatre state its preferred option, which it did on October 27th, 2000. The theatre has since been waiting for an answer from the Minister.
This seems to have come at last, in the form of Tuesday's announcement. However, the list of unknowns in the Abbey's statement - what the cost of the new theatre would be, how it would be designed, how big the site would have to be, and how applicable a Public Private Partnership scheme would be - indicate that this is a story that will run and run.