Irish language dramatists have called for Government intervention over a decision by the national Irish language theatre, An Taibhdhearc, to restructure its management.
Contracts for three staff positions, including that of artistic director, have not been renewed as part of the restructuring, which involves recruiting a new managing director and secretary/receptionist at the Galway-based theatre.
The decision has been criticised as "retrograde" by several members of the Irish language artistic community in the west, who have called on the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs to intervene. The department, which increased its grant aid to the theatre to €450,000 this year, has asked for a report on the development.
Founded 77 years ago with a £600 Government grant from then finance minister Ernest Blythe, the Taibhdhearc has been associated with some of the leading names in Irish theatre - including its first director of drama, Micheál MacLiammóir, Walter Macken, and actors such as Mick Lally and Siobhán McKenna.
It is said to have "arrived" when Siobhán McKenna's highly-praised translation of George Bernard Shaw's St Joan was criticised by former Galway bishop Dr Michael Browne.
Run by a voluntary board of 11, with two electable posts, the theatre is a limited company which receives a €100,000 increase in its State grant this year from €345,000 in 2004.
It has undergone a chequered history in recent years, but was lately perceived to have turned around under artistic director Darach Mac Con Iomaire, who was involved in staging 30 shows, 16 of which were by new writers, during his term of office. The theatre received two Stewart Parker awards, and was nominated for several Irish Times/ESB national theatre awards. One of it most ambitious recent projects was its summer solstice run of Tine Chnamh by Liam Ó Muirthile, involving director Stewart Parker and cast Diarmuid de Faoite, Lara Campbell, Marc Mac Lochlainn and Ann Marie Horan.
The Taibhdhearc board said the restructuring involves both board and staff and was the result of a decision taken over the past year in relation to the theatre's future.
It is confident it will recruit a managing director and secretary of the right calibre to ensure the theatre company builds on past achievements, and it paid tribute in a statement to the work of the outgoing artistic director.
As part of the board's plan, which will place greater emphasis on marketing to attract larger audiences, three new sub-committees are to be established, involving board members, with specific remits.
An artistic sub-committee, coiste ealaíne, will be involved in programme planning, and will work with the managing director and an artistic advisor hired annually on contract.
The two other sub-committees, coiste tí and coiste airgeadais, will be involved with the physical fabric of the building and with finance.
Darach Ó Scolaí, writer and artist, said he and many other Irish language artists were very disappointed at the new development.
"We feel that this is a move to drive young people away, and to turn the clock back to a situation where the theatre is staging a couple of amateur Irish dramatic productions a year."