Redevelopment of the Abbey Theatre is mired in red tape and bureaucratic reviews more than eight years after a government-promised €80 million overhaul.
Two governments and three taoisigh on from a 2018 pledge to replace the “deficient” building with a new theatre as a “priority”, construction is now unlikely to begin until after 2028 at the earliest. Moreover, the projected cost has risen to as much as €500 million.
The project has been in a protracted back and forth with the Department of Culture for almost two years and still needs the approval of a review group within the Department of Public Expenditure before its redevelopment can be considered for approval in principle by the Government.
It was first announced that the theatre would benefit from an €80 million redevelopment plan in 2018 under Project Ireland 2040, the State’s large-scale infrastructure plan. The theatre had been listed as a significant capital project that would draw investment between 2018 and 2027 and the redevelopment would include its extension to Eden Quay.
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The theatre is one of the State’s most important cultural institutions. It was founded by William Butler Yeats and Augusta Gregory in 1904; the 1966 structure has been described by the government as a “deficient” building for audiences and performers.
In 2023, progress was made when objections to a plan by Dublin City Council to purchase the properties next to the theatre were dropped. In a statement this week, the theatre said it “welcomes the support of Dublin City Council in acquiring certain properties on Eden Quay in Dublin 1, thus securing the expanded footprint of the theatre in the furtherance of our development plans.”
However, by 2024, the government had still not moved forward. Former minister for culture Catherine Martin’s department contracted professional services firm PwC to carry out an “external assurance process” on the project before the government could consider approval. That report, finalised in August 2024, said the business case for the project was in compliance with Government infrastructure guidance.
The report was then sent from the Department of Culture to an independent group within the Department of Public Expenditure, which is tasked with scrutinising big capital investment projects.
In September, the major projects advisory group sent back a list of initial queries. The theatre said that since then, it has been “progressing iteratively” with the Department of Culture to try to address them.
Late last year, the revised National Development Plan for culture, communications and sport listed redevelopment of the theatre as a priority and said, “planning for this major project will continue with a view, initially, to getting approval in principle from Government to proceed”. Its proposed construction date was listed as “post 2028” with an indicative cost of between €200 million and €500 million.
The Department of Culture said it and the theatre were due to meet the major projects advisory group in October 2024, but the meeting was postponed when the expert group sought more detail on plans.
