Madam, – Like so many Irish “controversies”, that surrounding the proposed move of the Abbey Theatre to the GPO building is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Anyone with half an eye on the country’s financial difficulties, including proposed cuts to arts spending, knows that the chances of a new multi-million euro theatre being built for many years are sweet Fanny Adams. I don’t expect to see the Abbey moving in my lifetime nor, I suspect, in that of my children. In the meantime, it will have to muddle on in its present location, which it seems to be doing pretty well under the stewardship of Fiach MacConghail.
If, however, I am wrong (and I would love to be) and a new architectural competition is proposed, might I suggest that a glaring omission be rectified? The list of assessors for the last competition, when it was proposed that the Abbey should move to the financial services area, did not contain the name of Joe Dowling. A former artistic director of the Abbey, Mr Dowling pushed through and worked closely with the architect of the new Guthrie on the banks of the Mississippi in Minneapolis, probably the major theatre to be built in the United States in recent years. He probably knows more about setting up a new theatre than all the other judges previously named put together. – Yours, etc,