DRUID theatre company has received what its artistic director, Garry Hynes, described as "the ultimate 21st birthday present" - a permanent home from which a new generation can grow and prosper.
The announcement coincided with the curtain coming down on Druid's coming of age production - Brian Friel's The Loves of Cass McGuire. The play was first performed by the company 21 years ago in a community hall.
The managing director of the Thomas McDonogh Group, Mr Donagh O'Donoghue, said the company was donating what was formerly a large tea warehouse in recognition of Druid's contribution to Galway and to theatre.
The internationally renowned theatre company has had a lease on the building at Courthouse Lane "at a peppercorn rate" since 1978. But doubts about its permanency often surfaced.
Given that it is a valuable property, probably worth several hundred thousand pounds at least, and property around it has been redeveloped, the question mark about its future as a venue was inevitable.
Altruism clearly won out over commercial interests in this instance. Mr O'Donoghue added: "I have been happy to assist the Druid in the past, most recently as chairman of the company. We in McDonoghs felt that it was important to do whatever possible to help secure the future of the company.
The gesture was an extraordinary one and deserved to set a headline for arts sponsorship in this country, the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Mr Higgins, said at a press conference in the theatre on Saturday. "Druid in its turn has been a model of innovative achievement and excellence for theatre companies in this country."
The excitement of discovering the warehouse, which dates from Victorian times, and looking through a grille at its stone walls was something she would not forget, Ms Hynes said.
"We went away rubbing our hands, determined to find out who owned it."
Galway Corporation, for its part, is renaming Courthouse Lane as Druid Lane. It plans to pave it and to include special motifs acknowledging Druid, at a cost of £30,000.
