The Arts Council has confirmed it received a copy of a long-awaited report looking into past governance issues at the Abbey Theatre between 2019 and 2021.
The Crowe report was commissioned by the Arts Council, who told RTÉ News that it "looked forward to examining" its findings. The report was a condition of the Council's €8 million funding of the theatre.
"It has been produced as a condition of funding and it is now a matter of the board of the Arts Council to consider this report in that context," it said.
The Abbey Theatre also confirmed that the report had been submitted on Monday.
"The report of the independent review by Crowe Ireland into the governance and policies at the Abbey Theatre, focusing on the period 2019-21, which was commissioned at the request of the Arts Council, has been completed and was delivered to the Arts Council on 15 July."
It follows a joint personal statement being published by former Abbey Theatre co-directors Graham McLaren and Neil Murray addressing their ongoing issues with the Abbey.
The pair ran the theatre as a team from 2016 until 2021. Since then, there have been many questions surrounding the end of their tenure in charge.
Their message, published on X, gave details about a range of payments and redundancy packages that they were offered by the board of the theatre.
They also said that they had ongoing "concerns" about governance issues.
The statement went on to explain that they had raised concerns during their tenure about the "spiralling legal costs" involved in these matters and that they made a protected disclosure to Minister for Media Catherine Martin in June 2022, a year after their departure.
The Department of Media told RTÉ News that its response to the Mr McLaren and Mr Murray was "in accordance with confidentiality requirements, the Department makes no comment in response to queries regarding such disclosures."
The Crowe report is expected to address costs at the Abbey and the circumstances that led to them, among other issues.
The review, which began in December 2022 is believed to have been completed late last year.
Meanwhile, the board of the Abbey Theatre is also facing into upcoming changes. The term of current chair, Dr Frances Ruane, will end on 28 July following her appointment in 2017.
A process for appointing a successor is under way. The deadline for receipt of expressions of interest in the role closed last Friday.
The theatre also faces additional questions this summer, due to a gap in its regular summer programming.
The Abbey is currently staging a production of 'The Sugar Wife' and when that show comes to an end tomorrow the theatre will be dark until mid-September.
The theatre said that "refurbishment plans" are the reason for this gap.
However, questions have been asked about the timing of this work, as summer would be regarded as a busy seasonal period.
The Arts Council said it does not "have a role in the programming of organisations it funds" in response to a question from RTÉ News if the schedule gap was related to funds being withheld, pending the report’s submission
Given the Abbey’s national significance, the status of the Crowe report is a matter of concern for not just the institution itself, but the wider Irish arts community.
