Ms Eithne Healy has been appointed chairman of the National Theatre, replacing Mr James Hickey, who has retired after two terms of office.
Ms Healy is a former chairman of the Dublin Theatre Festival and a former member of the Arts Council.
She is currently serving on the boards of the National Museum and Temple Bar Properties and has already served for three years on the board of the Abbey.
She is married to the former chief executive of Independent Newspapers, Mr Liam Healy. After rearing their three children, she trained as a drama teacher and became involved in the National Youth Theatre.
She acknowledged yesterday that the question of the Abbey's new building was going to be a major challenge - "that's an understatement". Although the Cabinet had made the decision that the Abbey should be rebuilt on its own site, Ms Healy thought there was still a lot to play for. She said the Office of Public Works was examining the present site and she thought it is "brilliant": "I think we'll be in good hands."
Asked if it was examining the possibility of buying adjacent buildings to expand the site, she said: "I don't know. I hope so."
She did not know if the possibility of moving to the Carlton cinema site on O'Connell Street - for which there is much popular support - was being looked at. She added that she had not looked at that site herself.
She expressed great confidence that the Abbey would be allowed to decide on its own future, in tandem with the Minister for the Arts and the Office of Public Works. "It's one chance," she said. "We have to get this right."
Meanwhile, an Irish production of John B. Keane's The Matchmaker has won the Outer Circle Critics' drama award in New York. This is awarded annually to the best off-Broadway show, on the advice of US theatre critics.
The show, which played at the Irish Repertory Theatre and has recently finished a run at Dublin's Gaiety Theatre, stars Des Keogh and Anna Manahan and is directed by Michael Scott of The Machine company.
The play has been running steadily for over a year. It has invitations to go all over the US, to Canada, to Australia and to Germany, and a licensed production will play in Finland. Scott says it's on the way to becoming "a worldwide hit."
The video of the production reached number 12 in the Irish video charts this Christmas. Now a British TV company, Assembly, is exploring spinning a TV series out of the play - "like Father Ted", as Scott says - with Des Keogh in the title role. It is hoped that shooting will start late next year.
Last week at the launch of the Arts Plan, Scott was quoted as saying that the Arts Council had "calcified" and it should hand over its brief to the Minister for the Arts.