Shane Cassells (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Along with Senators Carrigy, Malcolm Byrne and Warfield, I met the directors and toured the Abbey Theatre before Christmas. Being patrons and enjoying a show front-of-house is one thing but seeing the conditions in which the staff of the theatre work back-of-house was eye opening. There are toilets in this building bigger than some of the cramped confines they have to work in. They still do it and produce a national theatre worthy of the country.

Given that we are potentially three years away from a spade in the ground and eight to nine years away from a completed building, how realistic is the figure of €80 million that was quoted? Keeping public expenditure under control for a major project is important. However, we also need to be realistic because the Abbey Theatre has very ambitious plans that will not just serve the artistic community but also act as a beacon for rejuvenation in that part of Dublin, which is badly needed. It will literally be a shining light because the reconfiguration of the theatre out onto the River Liffey is going to draw people in a very positive way to an area that has had very negative connotations in the past. Has an assessment been done to ensure the figure of €80 million is sufficient, given that the project will take eight to nine years to complete?