Arts Council expresses support for troubled Abbey Theatre

The Arts Council has expressed its support for Ireland's troubled national theatre.

The council said today that it was encouraged by the "very significant steps" taken by the Abbey to stabilise its operations.

Last year, the theatre received just over €4.5m in grants from the Government agency.

Speaking in Dublin today, new Arts Council director Mary Cloake said: "We're very, very confident that there's a solution to the problems of the Abbey.

"We consider that we're all in this together and certainly we'll talk to the Abbey about how funding should be used and what we consider to be priorities, but they'll have their views as well."