Why don’t we develop our derelict sites?
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Why are Cillian Murphy and Yvonne McGuinness revitalising the old Phoenix Cinema in Dingle?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance.
Now, Cillian Murphy, the actor and his actress wife, Yvonne McGuinness, have been given the go ahead to rejuvenate the old Phoenix Cinema in Dingle into an art centre. They say their goal is to create a much needed space for community to gather, to create and to celebrate culture and heritage. Given the amount of derelict sites around the country, do we need to do more for our beautiful old buildings? Well, joining me now is Roisin Murphy, architect, artist and And lecture, you're very welcome to the programme. And I know from speaking to you in the past, Róisín, that you will be celebrating this because these old buildings, particularly I think some of these old cinema buildings, they're so distinctive, they're so unique and they're actually now quite rare and often at the very heart of a town or village.
And they can offer so much more than just spaces to create art.
Yeah, they're secular as well. I love the word secular in Ireland because we had so much religion and our public buildings were very religious or sporting. So the thing about the cinema is it's sort of democratic and secular. Everybody can go there. So symbolically, they hold a very important place where they're built. You know, they're like the dance halls and that. And they're kind of of a period of architecture that's quite joyful and kind of about entertainment coming together.
What makes historic cinema buildings unique and valuable to communities?
So they're usually They're usually good locations and dinky dang looking. So they're kind of cool, like garages. I mean, not that we're all petrol heads now anymore, but that whole idea of the kind of opening up of the country and the beginning of cinema and stuff like that.
But you also see, don't you, in old post office, old railway station buildings, old banks, a lot of these buildings that have huge character and have great stories and can be repurposed into multicultural venues very easily.
Yeah, I mean, and to be fair, we see some of it with Estella and Rathmines is particularly successful in that and it's right back at cinema. You know what I mean? It doesn't necessarily mean that we have to move away from cinema. Like any movie fans in Ireland, we've all been out to see The Odyssey and you all kind of choose your cinema. I think it's one of the really sad things as well is that kind of when COVID happened, we became very insular. So I think that thing of going out to the movies and things like that is so good culturally for people to get out and kind of share space together and be entertained. So they're very important buildings for society, those kind of buildings. They bring us together to kind of enjoy art and entertainment and things like that.
So they're really important for communities to build structures like that. And we are seeing a kind of, particularly in Dublin, we're seeing in the north inner city, in the inner city in general, we're seeing kind of a degradation of those kind of spaces. There's a
How does the loss of old cinemas and cultural spaces affect towns and cities?
a battle for the heart and soul of kind of cultural spaces.
Yeah, because once those buildings are gone, they're lost permanently, aren't they?
Yeah, the dance halls are kind of gone and we've seen an awful lot of demolition of the cinema buildings. I mean, I think I was working on it with Sinead Ryan in the Home Show on Newstalk. We talked a lot about those Art Deco buildings because Sinead loves Art Deco and you were beginning to kind of number the fatalities of them and the And there's very few left. And there's some really fine ones left. It's a beautiful one in Milltown and Galway. And there's a lovely one on the old Galway Road. Like they're very distinctive bits of architecture and where they plaster the front of them. They're basically a barn sort of applied on fronts that we would have interpreted from American architecture, kind of cinema architecture and stuff like that was completely different for us.
And it's on the banks as well. There's some and one of the buildings on Kildare Street, the old some really interesting art deco buildings.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
Why are Cillian Murphy and Yvonne McGuinness revitalising the old Phoenix Cinema in Dingle?
0:01–1:29
2
What makes historic cinema buildings unique and valuable to communities?
1:29–2:57
3
How does the loss of old cinemas and cultural spaces affect towns and cities?
2:57–4:16
4
Why do funding and planning challenges stall the regeneration of derelict sites?
4:16–5:43
5
What legislative loopholes keep buildings vacant for decades?
5:43–7:13
6
How can short‑term lettings and derelict taxes revive unused properties?
7:13–8:50
7
What broader social and economic benefits come from restoring arts venues?
8:50–9:30