The owner of a vacant plaza at Crescent Quay in Wexford Town has told Wexford County Council officials at a recent meeting that he will only allow the site to be used for a new theatre to replace the demolished Dun Mhuire.
At the monthly meeting of the Wexford Borough District, councillors heard that Director of Services Alan Quirke met with the landowner to go over potential uses for the site. Quirke said a “long discussion” took place where both parties “tried to work out some solutions.”
The landowner is “willing to offer it as a theatre site, but that entails a huge capital investment on our behalf,” Quirke said. “We already have the Wexford Arts Centre and the Opera House, we need to focus on maximising them.”
The council raised the possibility of other temporary uses, including a farmers’ market and a Christmas market, but Quirke said “there wasn’t huge openness to those ideas.” The feedback from the landowner was that any future use was “limited to what would develop the site commercially.”
Councillors have proposed other uses for the site, including a space for young musicians and a basketball court.
Wexford County Council entered into a 10-year lease agreement with the landowner in 2021 to use the site as a car park. The lease runs until 2031.
Councillor Tom Forde asked whether the council could sever the lease if the landowner was not open to alternative uses.
“It was a good idea to utilise that space for the Fleadh, but, at this point, the council isn’t the obstacle to using that site, it’s the landowner,” Forde said.
The plaza itself has been a source of growing concern. The area lies between Oyster Lane and Crescent Quay. Oyster Lane is a pedestrian walkway linking Wexford Quay to South Main Street.
The site was used during Wexford’s hosting of Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in 2024 and 2025. It has become associated with day-time drinking and anti-social behaviour in recent years. Councillor Leonard Kelly said up to 15 people could be seen drinking cans at the plaza on any given day.
“It’s an important space, is this what we want for it? Just to be a place for people to hang around?” Forde said.
Councillor Kelly said it was “baffling” that after two years there was still “no notion” of what to do with the site. He asked why the council had demolished a historic theatre to use the space for two weeks during two Fleadhs.
“Anything we propose cannot impact the long-term development of the site, that’s the major hurdle we have,” Quirke said.
Kelly asked how much the council had spent on the site since acquiring it in 2021. Quirke said the figure was €550,000, which included public realm works, street lighting, and landscaping.
Councillor Catherine Biddy Walsh asked whether the landowner would consider giving the site to the council. “I did suggest they give us the site, I presume they said no to that?” she said.
Forde submitted a motion, which was carried, asking for a report on money invested to date and options for use of the leased and council-owned sites.
Dun Mhuire Theatre was demolished in August 2023 after a 15-year legal dispute. The back hall and interior were entirely levelled during the demolition works, while the front facade on South Main Street was intentionally left behind. It had hosted acts including Aslan and Hermitage Green, along with numerous pantomimes and the Wexford Opera Festival. Wexford County Council purchased the building from the Wexford parish for a fee believed to be in the region of €400,000.
Plans for a 400-capacity modular performance space on the site of the former Crazy Prices and Tesco building at the Crescent were announced for Fleadh Cheoil 2024 but collapsed in February 2024 due to cost overruns. A senior executive architect stated at the time that the proposed structure was not a replacement for the Dun Mhuire, but a stand-alone, temporary venue on an adjoining plot.