News – New deal for Abbey

The Abbey Theatre in Dublin is to receive e25.7m over the next three years from the Irish Arts Council to support its programme of work. This is the largest grant ever made by the Arts Council and the first time a three-year funding programme has been put in place for Irelands National Theatre.
The news comes in the wake of troubled times at the theatre, which last year reported unaccounted losses in excess of e1m. Olive Braiden, Chair of the Arts Council, said, The Abbey has exceptional issues and this funding is to enable the organisation to reclaim the ground lost over recent years. In total, an additional e10.8m of government funding was announced for the arts in Ireland in 2006, allowing for increases to many arts organisations, and for 22 new organisations to be funded.