Cork's Cillian Murphy and Yvonne McGuinness new owners of iconic Kerry cinema

Cork’s favourite Oscar winner and his wife are the new owners of one of Kerry’s most popular cinemas.

Actor Cillian Murphy and artist Yvonne McGuinness have purchased the Phoenix Cinema in Daingean Uí Chúis in Co Kerry.

Situated in the town centre, it is the only cinema on the Dingle peninsula and is also the only film theatre located in a Gaeltacht area.

At the heart of Dingle for over a century, The Phoenix was also one of the country’s last family-owned cinemas when it closed during the covid pandemic and went on the market.

Mr Murphy and Ms McGuinness own a holiday home in the area and are regular visitors, a habit Mr Murphy inherited from his parents.

In a statement, the Ballintemple actor, who won an Academy Award for his starring role in Christopher Nolan’s 2023 'Oppenheimer', spoke of his fond childhood memories of the cinema.

“I’ve been going to see films at The Phoenix since I was a young boy on summer holidays," Mr Murphy said..

“My Dad saw movies there when he was a young man before me, and we’ve watched many films at The Phoenix with our own kids. We recognise what the cinema means to Dingle.” 

The cinema was built by Jimmy and Johnny Houlihan and opened in 1919.

Twice destroyed by fires, it was rebuilt in 1921 and in 1938, gaining its current name, façade and floor mosaic of a phoenix bird when it reopened for the second time.

In the 1950s, the Houlihan brothers sold The Phoenix to the Moore family, and it was a cinema and dancehall during the showband era, with Rory Gallagher playing there in 1964.

The O’Sullivan family purchased the cinema in 1978, and owned it until three years ago.

The cinema’s new owners say renovations will begin in the new year, and when reopened, The Phoenix’s programming will reflect its Gaeltacht heritage.