Construction begins on €5 million Swan Cinema expansion in Rathmines

The Omniplex Group is doubling the number of screens at the Swan Cinema in Dublin's Rathmines as part of a €5 million expansion.

The investment will provide 16 new permanent jobs at the enlarged cinema, with four new screens expected to open next spring.

Construction has begun on the redevelopment which will extend over the top floor of the Swan shopping centre in the south Dublin suburb.

The four new screens, including an OmniplexMAXX giant format screen, will be added at a cost of €5 million. The giant screen will be among the largest in the country.

Omniplex Group managing director Paul Anderson said that the number of staff employed at the cinema would double at all levels, including supervisor and management, from 16 to 32 positions.

Some 30 people will also be employed during the construction of the screens.

“Every seat will have perfect viewing. Even if you are a six-year-old kid you will not have to worry about heads blocking your view of the screen.”

Mr Anderson said the development was part of a €14.5 million investment in Omniplex cinemas in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Newry. “If the weather was good we could probably have the screens open before Christmas. Given our weather in winter, though, that is unlikely, so we are aiming for a March opening. Last time we added in a new screen we couldn’t have a crane for 20 days due to winds.”

The group, which has 22 cinemas throughout Ireland, received final approval last month to go ahead with the extension of the Dublin cinema which will see the number of screens doubling to eight.

The new screens will bring the cinema’s overall capacity to more than 1,600 seats.

The expansion plan will also see a former AIB branch on the ground floor converted into a Starbucks coffee shop.

Originally opened as a three-screen cinema in 2009 at a cost of €3 million, a fourth screen opened in December 2012 at a cost of €1 million. When complete the total investment in the Swan Omniplex will exceed €9 million.