The artistic director of the Abbey Theatre, Ben Barnes, will retain his position as a result of an emergency meeting of the National Theatre Society last night.
Barnes faced a vote of no confidence at the meeting following criticisms of his handling of the theatre's artistic direction.
However, the motion of no confidence levelled against him was overwhelmingly defeated.
A proposal to postpone the management rescue plan which would involve laying off a third of the Abbey's 90 staff members was agreed by the members.
A working group is due to be established to look at all of the issues involved.
Barnes issued a press release this afternoon where he said that he was "grateful for the support of the government and the board of the theatre and the many people within the artistic community who have called me since my return from Australia on Monday."
With 'The Gigli Concert' in Australia, 'The Playboy of the Western World' shortly off to the United States and the Abbey and Ireland season of eighteen plays in fourteen days in preparation for this years' Dublin Theatre Festival, Barnes stated his determination to see that "the art, the plays, are put back where they belong - centrestage."
