It will be run by its original proprietors Maretta Dillon and Neil Connolly, who never gave up in their fight to find a new home for the audiences who had come to depend on the Light House for access to the latest and best in world cinema.

Early on they championed the films of . . . in particular . . . Pedro Almodovar and other continental directors whose work up to then was virtually restricted to film-society and club screenings.

The new Light House, with the backing of Fusano Properties Ltd and grants from the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Cultural Cinema consortium . . . a joint initiative of the Arts Council and the Irish Film Board . . . will be ready to open late next year.

With a designated Smithfield Luas stop and underground car part, the Light House, according to Connolly, "promises to be the most comfortable and stylish cinema in Dublin".