merrion street

After years of speculation, I consider that the long term location of the Abbey Theatre is now absolutely settled. The Abbey Street location is now, and will be for the future, the home of the National Theatre.

I welcome the acquisition of property beside the existing theatre building as a clear road map for the future, and believe that the fundraising focus of the Abbey must now be on delivering the maximum amount of private support possible to allow for development to take place on this site over time.

That fundraising challenge can't be underestimated. I have allocated additional resources for the Abbey this year to help deal with the asbestos issue at the building, but in the time ahead the level of taxpayer resources that are available for the theatre will - as is the case with all institutions - be under very serious pressure.