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The Arts: Last year saw only 29 new Irish plays performed by professional companies, a sign of how difficult it is to bring new work to the stage. However, a number of programmes aim to encourage and develop new playwrights, writes Sara Keating

‘If I was in my 20s trying to start writing, I’d be looking at myself, going ‘Enda Walsh, Conor McPherson, Mark O’Rowe, Marina Carr: they’re old, they’re establishment,’ ” the playwright Enda Walsh commented last year. “I mean we’ve all been around for a long time. We have careers. We’re producing work all the time.”