THE abandoned Fair City set which is filled with the original beloved shopfront is expected to be demolished in the coming weeks.
The old Fair City studio looks set for the chopping block as builders have moved in to tear down the set.
Cairn Homes has commenced works on the first phase of its €345million, 608-unit apartment scheme in Donnybrook.
On Monday, builders began clearing the site for a new development.
The old set, which had been in use for over 30 years, will be demolished over the next few months.
The beloved set which included fan favourite’s such as McCoys, The Hungry Pig and Phelan’s will now be turned into a brand-new property space.
Fair City moved to a new set in 2019 following the €107.5m sale of just under nine acres of land at the station’s headquarters to Cairn Homes.
Fair City is now being filmed at RTE Studios in Donnybrook – on a multi-million euro HD-friendly set, behind the radio building at Montrose, for the time being.
However, RTE’s Director General, Kevin Backhurst has stated that there is a “degree of urgency” to find a new home for the production as it will become difficult to film once builders began their work, beside the radio building.
He said: “As soon as they start building with jackhammers, it is very hard to film on a lot outside for Fair City.”
Bakhurst confessed that RTE are still deciding how they will proceed to produce Fair City externally going forward.
He added: “It may be cheaper to rebuild rather than lift and shift. It would still have to be made in and around Dublin as Fair City is a Dublin soap.”
Two hundred of the staff working on Fair City have been fearing for their job after being warned by their union that there would be “no plan B” if RTE could not find a new independent company to take on production of the soap.
Amid fears for people’s livelihoods, Siptu RTE Committee chair Zac Sloper told the Mail that union representatives were concerned the running costs for the soap would make the project “unattractive” to an independent production firm.
Mr Sloper said that Siptu representatives were “surprised” by the lack of detail included in RTE’s plans for Fair City’s future, following recent discussions with Mr Bakhurst.
Back in June, RTE workers were told that the broadcaster would stop producing the flagship Late Late Show and Fair City on site within five years in a bid to slash their costs.
The station had planned to outsource the iconic Late Late Show but was being held up because station bosses were unable to find a studio prepared to host its large set over a full season.
An industry source told The Irish Sun: “Right now RTE can leave The Late Late Show set in place all week in Studio 4 in Montrose.
‘A REAL HEADACHE’
“What’s proving difficult is finding an outside studio facility where one can do that for 30 episodes a season.
“Independent facilities need their studios back after each show for other clients. But The Late Late Show set needs to stay up all week.
“Patrick Kielty sometimes has to pre-record interviews with visiting Hollywood stars or guests unavailable on Friday night.
“It’s a real headache for RTE finding a studio willing to host the huge set from September to May each year.”
Siptu official Robbie Purfield told The Irish Sun: “It’s still vague whether RTE plan on hiring an outside studio and staffing it with RTE people, or transferring staff to an independent production.
