Board to discuss hearing of petition

THE BOARD of Dublin’s Light House cinema will meet today to discuss its future ahead of a High Court hearing of a petition to wind up the company.

John Flynn, the cinema’s landlord, has issued a wind-up petition against Light House Cinema Exhibition and Distribution Company Limited, following a dispute about the rent on the Smithfield premises. The petition will be heard on Monday.

The directors of the cinema have been in negotiations with Mr Flynn and his family in relation to the rent charged on the property, which houses four cinema screens in a basement building in Smithfield Market. It is understood the landlord doubled the annual rent from €100,000 to €200,000 last May. The directors have withheld a portion of the rent charged.

The Light House board will meet today “to decide what action it is to take” in relation to the High Court petition, the cinema’s co-founder Neil Connolly said.

The directors have sought legal advice in relation to Mr Flynn’s move, of which they learned last Friday, Mr Connolly added.

The Light House opened in Smithfield in May 2008, after Dublin City Council made the inclusion of a cultural space a condition of the planning permission granted to the developers of Smithfield Market, Fusano Properties.

Fusano contributed to the cost of the fit-out, alongside grants totalling €1.75 million from the Department of Arts and the Cultural Cinema Consortium, a joint initiative of the Arts Council and the Irish Film Board. Mr Flynn, a director of Fusano, later became the landlord of the building.

The executive directors of the Light House are Mr Connolly and co-founder Maretta Dillon, while David Collins and David Kavanagh serve as non-executive directors.

Ms Dillon and Mr Connolly operated the original two-screen Light House cinema on Abbey Street from 1988 to 1996. The new cinema at Smithfield is housed in a 5,500 sq m building designed by architects Derek Tynan Associates, with its plush, colour-coded screens – ranging from 68 to 277 seats – catering mainly for an arthouse audience.

It has endured difficult trading conditions, although box office receipts have improved since the start of 2011. Its most successful screenings include the French film Of Gods and Men,Oscar winner The King's Speechand the Irish documentary His & Hers.

It was hoped that the cinema would act as a cultural hub for Smithfield.

However, the area’s regeneration has been derailed by recession, with several retail units now empty and planned developments that would have brought additional footfall put on hold.