A third option for the was mooted at the Joint Committee on Heritage and the Irish Language, which met today to consider proposals for a new national theatre.
Addressing the meeting, Labour TD Mr Michael D. Higgins said he was surprised that the option of purpose-built theatre on one of the two sites proposed and redeveloping the present site on Lower Abbey Street, had not been mentioned to date.
The theatre in Ireland, he said, had developed considerably all over the country to the point where it would be beneficial for all to have a theatre in Dublin, linked to the Abbey that had the capability of staging regional productions in Dublin.
Mr James Hickey, chairman of the board of the Abbey, said that such an option had not been considered as the board could only consider options over which it had some control.
The third option which, he said, would be necessarily more expensive had not been considered because the board was not in a position to say whether the funds would be available or not.
Mr Ben Barnes, artistic director of the Abbey stressed the company's attachment to the Abbey Street site and said the board would not be happy giving the site up.
"We have no appetite," said Mr Barnes, "to see Abbey Street turning into an amusement arcade or a capark."