A PROPOSAL by Temple Bar Cultural Trust to provide a loan of €300,000 and a guarantee of €350,000 to Smock Alley theatre has been passed by the board.

At a scheduled board meeting yesterday to discuss the proposal, six of the 12 board members voted in favour of the proposal, three voted against.

Three Dublin City Council representatives were absent from the meeting – Labour councillors Oisin Quinn and Maria Parodi and Fine Gael senator Catherine Noone.

Ms Noone is due to be replaced on the board following her recent election to the Seanad.

The board of Temple Bar Cultural Trust, which is appointed by the Dublin city manager, comprises a number of city councillors and representatives from the arts community, including RTÉ’s Doireann Ní Bhríain and former chair of the Abbey theatre Eithne Healy.

Smock Alley had been seeking the loan and guarantee from the trust following a decision of a private donor not to provide €300,000 to the company.

The €350,000 guarantee refers to a long-term loan from Ulster Bank.

The issue of whether the trust, of which Dublin City Council is the shareholder, should assume a €650,000 exposure to the new Smock Alley theatre was raised at a meeting of Dublin City Council on Monday evening.

Temple Bar Cultural Trust is a private limited company established in 1991, of which Dublin City Council is the shareholder. Its main source of income is rent from properties in the Temple Bar area, which it uses to fund cultural events in the area.

Last month the council announced that it was initiating a review of the trust.

Calls to Temple Bar Cultural Trust yesterday were not returned.

Smock Alley was awarded a total of €3.8 million in grants from the Arts Council in 2006 and 2007 for the redevelopment of the theatre.

Phase one of the development is expected to be completed by August this year.

It is understood that Smock Alley has raised €400,000 in fund-raising to date.