A decision is expected when the Dáil returns from its summer break on the future location of the national theatre. The Minister for Arts, John O’Donoughue will recommend to Cabinet that the new home for the Abbey will be on George’s Quay between the IFSC and Jurys Inn.

The Dublin Docklands Development Authority has offered the site to the Government with the location having been fully examined by the Office of Public Works, who stated that the new location meets the many needs of the Abbey. Situated on Custom’s House Dock facing the Liffey, the new site is just a short walk from the city centre and a short stroll from the Abbey Theatre’s current location on Abbey Street.

If, as expected, the proposal gets approval from Government, an international architectural competition will then be held to create a landmark building for the new Abbey Theatre.
The Abbey, which has been front page news during the summer over the perilous state of its finances, has been looking for a new location for the last five years and indeed was hoping to have a new home in place for its centenary celebrations last year. The saga began, ironically enough, when the Dublin Docklands offered the Theatre a site in 2000 at Grand Canal Docks for free with an annual subsidy of €600,000 per year. The board of the Abbey approved the move and the theatre was all set to move until the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern described the potential new location as a “disappointment” and a “serious mistake”.

Following this announcement and a report from the then Minister for the Arts, Sile de Vilera, that the Abbey should remain in the city centre, the Grand Canal move was scrapped. A series of alternative sites were then considered, including the old Carlton cinema in O’Connell Street, the home of the Department of Health in Hawkins Street and Colaiste Mhuire school in Parnell Street, which looked like going ahead until a deal for the purchase of a building next to the school fell through earlier this year.

Now it seems the drama of the Abbey’s new address has reached its final act and providing some minor details are worked out with the DDDA, the George’s Dock site looks set to stage the new centenary of the national theatre.

If it goes ahead, the Abbey development will mark a considerable coup for the Dockland Authority who have being trying to secure a major cultural institution in the area for some considerable time.

The Chairman of the Docklands Authority Lar Bradshaw said he is “optimistic that the Abbey Theatre will accept the offer of land in George’s Quay and re-locate to the Docklands.”