Yvonne McGuinness and Cillian Murphy's Kerry cinema plan gets green light

Kerry County Council approves plan for Dingle's Phoenix Cinema to become a multi-purpose arts centre with bar, café, and restaurant

Yvonne McGuinness and Cillian Murphy bought the Phoenix Cinema after it shut in 2022 having served the people of Dingle/Daingean Uí Chúis for over a the century. File picture: John Locher/AP

The major redevelopment of a cinema bought by artist Yvonne McGuinness and her husband, actor Cillian Murphy, has been granted planning permission by Kerry County Council.

The well-known Phoenix Cinema in Daingean Uí Chúis was bought by the couple in November 2024.

Their plans will retain the building as a cinema while expanding its use to include a multi-disciplinary performance space, exhibition and rehearsal areas, a bar, café, and restaurant, artist studios, and a redesigned courtyard.

The cinema, which had served west Kerry communities since 1919, closed during the covid pandemic. 

When the O’Sullivan family announced plans to sell in 2022, fears emerged locally that the site could be redeveloped for commercial or residential use. A community campaign was launched to protect its cultural role.

The planning application followed extensive public consultation, including meetings and presentations held in the old cinema. 

The project has also secured €933,000 under the Government’s Rural Regeneration Fund.

Yvonne McGuinness (centre) at the public consultation in the Phoenix Cinema in Dingle last August with planning consultant Laura Brock and architect Andrew Clancy. File picture: Manuela Dei Grandi

Many letters of support were submitted, particularly from the wider west Kerry arts community. However, some neighbouring residents raised concerns about the potential impact on adjoining properties and additional pressure on parking in nearby streets.

Planning permission has been granted subject to 13 conditions and may yet be appealed to An Coimisiún Pleanála.

Murphy and McGuinness are long associated with the west Kerry Gaeltacht. The Cork actor’s parents holidayed in the area for decades and he now spends extended periods there with his own family. 

Actor Cillian Murphy, who purchased the Phoenix Cinema with artist Yvonne McGuinness, pictured at the 2010 Dingle Film Festival. Picture: Eamonn Keogh/MacMonagle

Speaking after the purchase at the time, Cillian Murphy said he had been attending films at the Phoenix since childhood. He said: 

My dad saw movies there before me, and we’ve brought our own children there too. We recognise what the cinema means to Dingle.

His artist wife Yvonne said the aim is to reopen the doors and broaden the venue’s creative potential, restoring its place at the heart of the town’s cultural life.

The Phoenix was destroyed by fire in 1921 and again in 1938 but was rebuilt on both occasions by the Houlihan family, inspiring its name. 

Over the decades it became a social hub, hosting drama, concerts and dances, and later welcoming showbands and performers including Rory Gallagher and Dana.