Dún Laoghaire TD, Richard Boyd Barrett says future of Beatyard Festival in Dún Laoghaire should not be threatened by pop up theatre plans
In a statement, Richard Boyd Barrett expressed real concern that the Beatyard Festival, that has taken place in Dún Laoghaire Harbour for the last 5 years and is due to kick off again this Friday, may not get the go ahead for next year because of council plans for a pop-up Shakespeare Theatre.
Richard Boyd Barrett TD and People Before Profit in Dún Laoghaire are fully supportive of the plans for Shakespeare Rose Pop-Up Theatre coming to the Harbour but cannot understand why this would threaten the future of the Beatyard Festival.
Beatyard is tremendously successful and has been enormously beneficial to the town over the last number of years.
Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council took charge of the Harbour last October after it had been run by the Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company for the previous two decades. The tenure of the Harbour Company was mired in controversy as many of the harbour users and other stakeholders complained that all decisions were made behind closed doors.
Richard Boyd Barrett TD said: “It seems utterly crazy that the fantastically successful Beatyard Festival would be edged out of the Harbour by the Rose Theatre. Why on earth can these two events not run consecutively?
“A pop-up Shakespeare Theatre would be a brilliant addition to the summer events in the Harbour and to really get the most out of it, it should start in May in order to tie in with Leaving and Junior cert students who very regularly only experience Shakespeare in the classroom. Starting the theatre earlier would then allow Beatyard to take the August Bank Holiday slot it has had for the last 5 years”
“It’s infuriating and unacceptable to discover that the Council are continuing to operate, like the Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company, shrouded in a veil of secrecy and without any consultation with local stakeholders, all those that use our harbour and totally ignoring the democratically elected TDs and councillors.
“The whole reason we campaigned to get rid of the Harbour Company was to ensure that there was real transparency and democratic control over the harbour and how it should be developed and used in the interest of the public.”
