Where should the Abbey make its home?

Fiach Mac Conghail, arts administrator, former artistic director of Project:

"I think that the Abbey should move out of the current site because of its lack of creative space there, but I don't think moving to the southside is necessarily the panacea. The Abbey Theatre should make an architectural statement in terms of the city of Dublin. There are other sites, in places such as O'Connell Street and the Buckingham Street area. I'm disappointed there hasn't been a proper discussion of the place of the National Theatre within Dublin, apart from on economic grounds. "You can't ignore the implications of a national theatre going into the Docklands. Will the Abbey become part of a subsection of Dublin City? It does have to position itself civically, and you wonder if moving to the Docklands is a civic move. I would suggest that the Docklands need the Abbey more than the Abbey needs the Docklands.

"There's a big journey and a big debate to be had about where to go to."

Ali Curran, artistic director, Dublin Fringe Festival:

"As a Belfast woman, I've never understood the politics of northside and southside. The Abbey is meant to be creating work for the nation. If the space isn't adequate, then they have to move. If there's another site [apart from the one on the south docks] which can be explored, fair enough, but I assume the Abbey board has been rigorous in its explorations. "If moving to Grand Canal Dock were simply about upgrading themselves socially in some way, it would be a major problem within the ethos of the organisation. But it's only a matter of time before the northside becomes regenerated too, anyway. "Maybe there are other sites I'm unaware of, and exploring them would have the advantage of opening the debate publicly. But I wonder how many theatregoers are passionate about whether it's on the northside or the southside."

Mike Diskin, artistic director, Town Hall Theatre, Galway:

"If it [moving] means more money being spent on the Abbey Theatre, it's a bad move. There's a massive imbalance in Irish theatre. When you consider that it won eight out of 12 awards in the Irish Times/ESB Theatre Awards, you'd have to say it's not a good thing for Irish theatre. It's not that the Abbey is doing anything wrong, it's just that we need some options and some competition. We need to be looking for a range of second theatre companies and girding them. Druid is probably the third theatre company in Ireland and it only does three shows a year.

"It seems a bad idea to move national institutions from the city centre. The National Museum at Collins Barracks is a disaster. You'd drive by there and not know it was a museum. You wonder about IMMA too, whether location isn't part of its problems. There doesn't seem to be a good reason for moving such an important part of our cultural heritage."

Monica Frawley, set designer, who has worked extensively for the National Theatre:

"I would love to move. A riverside location north or south of the Liffey sounds lovely. The conditions we are in at the moment are unhealthy. There isn't a design room; I have to leave my bags in the corridor.

"The idea that it shouldn't go [to the south docks] because it's being moved out of the Taoiseach's constituency . . . To have those words in the same sentence as "theatre" . . . It's supposed to be a national institution! "I really feel it can't be a museum. I think everyone, including the Taoiseach, should read Peter Brook's The Empty Space.

It has to be about making theatre now. That's the legacy Yeats and Lady Gregory left us.

"My only concern would be that it would be like the Barbican, which had huge, huge problems when it moved out of the city centre. But we don't have a theatre "bit" like in London. As for the northside being regenerated, I live in Broadstone [in the north inner city] and I'm terrified walking home. I don't know how much of its immediate area the Abbey can buy up."

Pat Kiernan, artistic director, Corcadorca Theatre Company, Cork:

"I've never really felt any strong affiliation to it as a national theatre. I haven't been there many times, to be honest with you. Neither space do I find particularly interesting. The Peacock might benefit from being a more flexible space."

Niall Henry, artistic director, Blue Raincoat Theatre Company, Sligo, who will direct The Playboy of the Western World at the Abbey this summer:

"If they themselves think it's a better option to go [to the south docks], I'd have no problem with that whatsoever. I wouldn't be informed about the northside/ southside thing. If it were my private theatre, I'd put it beside the water and I wouldn't care, because there's a nice view. I've been around the site, and it's lovely.

"Anything that helps them do better theatre . . . The Abbey is in a shocking state for a national theatre. They actually have two theatres which are badly designed. There are people on the Abbey roof in Portakabins. If you or I or the ESB were in Portakabins, there'd be war."

In conversation with Victoria White