The Government is committed to supporting the long-planned redevelopment of the National Concert Hall (NCH) and money is “not an issue”, Minister for Culture Patrick O’Donovan has said.
He was speaking at an event to mark the official start of construction on the NCH’s new €21 million Discover Centre.
The 1,400 sq m national centre for music participation, learning and community engagement – housed inside the former University College Dublin pathology department – is due to be completed in early 2027. It is the first phase of the much delayed wider transformation of the NCH.
The second phase will include the refurbishment and expansion of its main auditorium, as well as the creation of new recital and rehearsal spaces. Those aspects of the project have yet to go out to tender.
Artist’s impression of the plaza of the forthcoming NCH Discover Centre. Illustration: NCH/OPW
“We’re anxious to try and get it started as soon as possible,” the Minister said, describing it as “a painstaking process”.
Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran, the Minister of State for the Office of Public Works (OPW), said it was positive day for the NCH and “everybody who has a love of music” across Ireland, notwithstanding the length of time it has taken to start the work.
The NCH first announced a major redevelopment plan in 2005, but it was derailed by the financial crash. A more modest plan was unveiled in 2018, with €78 million earmarked to pay for it under Project 2040, but that was held up by the pandemic.
The plan, expected to see the capacity of the main auditorium increase from 1,200 to about 1,350, has since been revived, receiving planning permission in 2024.
When the second phase begins, the National Symphony Orchestra and other ensembles will vacate the Earlsfort Terrace building and relocate for a period of at least three years.
Minister for Communications Patrick O’Donovan (left) and Minister of State for the OPW Kevin Boxer Moran at the National Concert Hall, Dublin on Tuesday. Photograph: Cillian Sherlock/PA Wire
Addressing the young musicians and singers present at Tuesday’s event in the NCH’s historic Kevin Barry Recital Room – where debates on the ratification of the Anglo-Irish Treaty once took place – Mr O’Donovan said they would be able to tell their grandchildren about the event in 40 to 50 years’ time.
“I hope at that stage the rest of the project [will be] finished,” he said.
The Minister later indicated it was the complexity of the project that had led to a loss of momentum.
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“I am kind of frustrated at the pace at which we’re delivering on the national cultural institutions, that’s no secret,” he said.
“I know that there is other work that we want to do here, and it is very slow, and I understand the fact that it’s slow, because this is a really important building.”