The Minister for the Arts, Mr O'Donoghue, informed the Cabinet yesterday that he is not in a position to announce a new location for the Abbey Theatre before Christmas, as he had promised.
Mr O'Donoghue said negotiations on the purchase of a building in Parnell Square, Dublin, which forms part of the site selected for the relocation of the theatre, have broken down.
The Minister said the vendors were looking for a sum in excess of what the Department considered was a fair market price.
The preferred site for the theatre was Coláiste Mhuire on Parnell Square, along with the purchase of an adjacent site to provide the necessary footprint for the theatre.
The purchase of the adjacent building at No 1 Granby Row, with roughly the same floor space as the Peacock Theatre, was under negotiation, but "the vendors were looking for a price way beyond the market value", the Minister said.
"As of now I have no powers of compulsory acquisition for a project such as this," he said.
He did not rule out developing the theatre at Parnell Square without the Granby Row building, and has asked officials to urgently consider, in consultation with the OPW and the Abbey, the viability of that.
He was still pursuing the relocation of the Abbey and wanted its new location to be a "signature building".
The other two sites under consideration are Hawkins House and a site on Infirmary Road.
The Minister said he was not ruling out another site entirely.
"At the end of the day I remain hopeful. In truth, it would have been perfect for what we were looking for," but the State had to send out the message that "the sky's not the limit". He regretted not being able to deliver on his promise to announce the plans for the Abbey before the end of the year. "I'll never give one again."
In response to the news last night, Mr Pat Cody, one of the owners of No 1 Granby Row, said they were not offered a fair market price and that he was "happy to negotiate with the OPW directly or an agent for a fair price". Mr Cody and Mr Michael Coghlan together own about 30 per cent of No 1 Granby Row, which is in a number of business units also known as Parnell Court.
About 70 per cent of the premises is owned by Mr Pádraig Rowley.
Last night Mr Cody said he had no dealings with the OPW, that he didn't know till "the last minute" who they were dealing with, and that there was a deadline of 5 p.m. on Tuesday to take or leave an offer - a situation which was "totally unacceptable". He said an offer had been made on behalf of the OPW of about €3.45 million for the five units, of which he and Mr Coghlan would have got roughly 30 per cent. He said that before the Abbey had expressed an interest they had had an offer of €1.15 million (for their 30 per cent stake) which they had refused - "so why would we accept an offer like this"?
Mr Cody said they would need to get €1.6 million for their share of the property. "My attitude is that that is a fair price . . . The whole area is dramatically improving." He said the owners would "do better with a new lease".
Mr Rowley was reluctant to comment on the Department's claim that negotiations had broken down over what the fair market value for the building was.
"I presume that's their view . . . I don't know what the market value is." He "didn't know if negotiations would resume or not".