Temple Bar trust set to be subsumed

Temple Bar Cultural Trust — the agency charged with promoting events in the cultural area — is expected to be subsumed into Dublin City Council early next year as part of a cost-saving exercise.

It is understood a 90-day consultation period regarding the future of the trust began last week.

After that, however, it is unclear as to what will happen — with it either remaining as a standalone entity, being subsumed into the city council, or being wound up altogether.

It is expected that it will become part of the city council, before the end of the first quarter of 2013.

Such a move would represent the third such instance this year. It was recently announced that the Digital Hub Development Authority will merge with the council rather than another state agency, while the disgraced Dublin Docklands Development Agency will come under the stewardship of Dublin City manager, John Tierney, for a transitional period before being wound down.

Earlier this month, Dublin City Council seconded the city arts officer, Ray Yeates, to head up the trust.

The move followed the trust’s head, Dermot McLaughlin, moving to oversee the Derry City of Culture 2013 project, a position which has a 15-month timespan.

While the appointment of Mr Yeates — an existing board member of the Temple Bar Trust — is officially a temporary measure to cover Mr McLaughlin’s absence, it is also being viewed in some quarters as the first signs of the subsuming of the body into the city council.

The trust employs fewer than 20 people, but it is understood that its annual rent take from the 50 or so arts and cultural buildings under its control tops €2m, money which could go directly to Dublin City Council.