ANOTHER dramatic twist for the Abbey: the national theatre is likely to move to O’Connell Street after a study concluded that it would take too long and cost too much to renovate the building at its current location.

The Office of Public Works (OPW) looked at the possibility of buying properties around the Abbey in order to build a much bigger theatre at its existing site. But it has told John O’Donoghue, the arts minister, that the cost of this would be “prohibitive”.

The government is awaiting the outcome of a High Court battle over the Carlton cinema site on O’Connell Street before deciding its next move.

Dublin city council is attempting compulsorily to purchase the site, but this has been challenged by the owners. If the High Court upholds the compulsory purchase order (CPO) next week, the government will examine moving the national theatre to the two-acre site.

“The government isn’t hung up on keeping the Abbey at its existing site and is well disposed to integrating it into the refurbishment of O’Connell Street,” said an insider.

“The OPW has concluded that if the Abbey is to be rebuilt at its current site, it would take many years. There are a lot of properties involved, numerous titles, listed buildings. The likely cost would be high. It’s important to start investigating other sites.”

One official said: “It’s a question of time and money and it could take five to six years at its current location.

If a site comes up on O’Connell Street, it would be prudent to look at it.”

Apart from being on the city’s main street, the Carlton is near the Ambassador cinema and the Gate theatre and moving the Abbey there would create a new theatrical quarter.

The site includes the old cinema, a site beside it that has been derelict since a fire during the Pope’s visit in 1979, and Dr Quirkey’s Good Time Emporium. The extensive site stretches back to Moore Street.

It has the particular advantage of being located in Dublin Central, the taoiseach’s constituency. Bertie Ahern has made it clear that he does not want the national theatre moving out of his patch.

Four years ago, when the board of the Abbey theatre expressed a wish to move to the southside of the Liffey, the taoiseach made no secret of his displeasure, declaring it a “surprise” and a “disappointment”, coming “just as the (north inner city) area was about to come into its own”.

Dublin city council was furious at the idea, because it undermined its redevelopment of the O’Connell Street area which included the erection of the Spire and the construction of a new plaza. Officials had already worked out that the Carlton site was big enough to accommodate the Abbey.

“Provided there is enough room for a commercial development there, the site could work out,” said one theatre producer. “It is certainly more conceivable to do a public/private partnership at that location.”

O’Donoghue is studying the OPW report and will go to the cabinet with a proposal in the next few months. The Programme for Government explicitly promises to “rebuild the Abbey” and the cabinet would like to make a decision during the national theatre’s centenary year.

Having secured cabinet approval for a conference centre for tourism and a national stadium for sport, O’Donoghue now wants a landmark achievement in the arts, the third part of his ministerial portfolio.

A new national theatre could cost up to €200m, but the current premises, in operation since 1966, is inadequate. Much of its machinery is obsolete and there are acoustic problems between the stage and the audience because of its fan shape. There is also no link between the Abbey and the Peacock, the experimental theatre in the basement.

In 2002, the cabinet decided to support the redevelopment of the Abbey on its present site, turning down the offer of a free site in docklands. It also decided that the project would be a public/private partnership, with commercial aspects helping to finance the new building.

However, an expert group later concluded that the “existing site and footprint” did not have the potential to address the theatre’s accommodation problems. For the theatre to stay in its existing location, it would be necessary to buy adjacent properties.

Now the OPW has concluded that convincing up to 20 property owners to sell to the state would be a long and expensive process. Any one owner could delay proceedings for years by refusing to sell or by taking a court challenge.

O’Donoghue has said that the current site on Lower Abbey Street “has a historic and emotional resonance for many people” and that it is “desirable” to redevelop there.

However, if nearby properties could not be acquired, “there are alternatives”.

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