OPPENHEIMER star Cillian Murphy and Yvonne McGuinness have expressed their delight after securing approval for their ambitious plans to revive Dingle’s Phoenix Cinema as a multi-disciplinary arts space. The artist and her Oscar-winning actor husband purchased the historic Kerry cinema in late 2024 and unveiled a redevelopment vision that retains the building’s cinematic function while dramatically expanding its creative footprint, adding a performance space, exhibition and rehearsal areas, artist studios, a bar, café, restaurant, and a redesigned courtyard.

The path to approval was not straightforward. Kerry County Council initially granted planning permission, but the project’s fate was pushed into the hands of An Coimisiún Pleanála earlier this year after several third-party appeals from local residents. That hurdle has now been cleared, paving the way for the cinema’s transformation.

Murphy and McGuinness share deep roots in the west Kerry Gaeltacht. The Cork-born actor’s family holidayed in the area for decades during his childhood, and he continues to spend extended periods there with his own family today. McGuinness has framed the project as an effort to reopen the venue’s doors and broaden its creative potential, restoring the Phoenix to its historic place at the heart of Dingle’s cultural life.

The cinema’s story is one of resilience. Destroyed by fire in both 1921 and 1938, it was rebuilt on each occasion by the Houlihan family, whose determination gave the venue its fitting name. For more than a century before its closure during the covid pandemic, the Phoenix served as a vital social and cultural hub for the west Kerry community, hosting drama productions, concerts, and dances, and later welcoming showbands and performers including Rory Gallagher and Dana. Murphy himself has a personal connection to the venue beyond ownership, having visited in 2010 for a screening of his film PERRIER’S BOUNTY.