The director of the Belltable Arts Centre in Limerick, Ms Liz Culloty, has hit back at criticism that the venue has become "elitist" under her tenure.
A dispute broke out between arts professionals and local politicians following claims that the number of performances at the Belltable had dropped significantly despite funding increases.
The venue, founded in 1981, received some €378,000 in funding last year, and most of this was grant assistance from the Arts Council.
Previously, the venue had been leased from a landlord at a preferential rate, but this relationship has become more commercially driven in recent years, leading to a major increase in overheads.
Speaking after the announcement of Mayplays, a new festival of plays at the Belltable, Ms Culloty dismissed claims of a move towards elitism as "a personally motivated attack".
"The venue is operating subject to considerable commercial and infrastructural constraints, and recent comments from certain quarters have not been helpful," she said.
A Limerick city councillor, Mr John Ryan, has claimed that up to 12 visiting drama companies were bypassing the venue this spring.
A document he has compiled suggested that up to 10 local amateur drama groups who had previously staged productions at the venue were now performing elsewhere in Limerick.
However, Ms Culloty said it was inevitable that the relationship between local drama groups and arts centres would change in a commercially-driven environment.
"Local drama groups always had preferential treatment at the Belltable, and there was a certain informality about the arrangement. But that can't continue in the current economic climate. The days of simply hiring out the hall are over," she said.
A Limerick playwright, Mr Mike Finn, author of Pigtown, which had previously been staged at the Belltable, also claimed that theatregoers in Limerick were getting poor value for money.
However, Ms Culloty argues that an element of elitism is inevitable in the performing arts.
"The nature of theatre is such that a commercial transaction takes place whereby people buy tickets to see a production. This means that many people are automatically excluded from that transaction for a variety of reasons," she said.
She added that every effort had been made to ensure that productions at the Belltable appealed to a widespread audience.
"It is Belltable policy to intersperse the classics with new cutting-edge productions. Next month's festival of Mayplays features productions of Twelve Angry Men, Molly Sweeney and The Odd Couple over successive weeks. This programme was carefully designed with the aim of reaching the widest possible audience," she said.
Speculation continues over the construction of a new arts/entertainment centre in the city. One proposal would see the Belltable taken over by Limerick City Council to operate exclusively as a municipal theatre.