As early as 1976, only two years after the establishment of the Irish Gay Rights Movement, Project teamed up with the group to present two plays by the London based lesbian and gay theatre company, Gay Sweatshop. Although Any Woman Can and Mister X were not the first ‘gay’ themed plays to be put on in Ireland, they were the first to tell the real stories and experiences of lesbian and gay people. The plays resulted in a funding crisis, with Dublin Corporation refusing to grant £6,000 to the centre. The decision resulted in a heated public debate with a letter to the editor of the Evening Press describing the plays as “...foul, filthy, stinking muck”. Although the corporation maintained that the decision related to uncertainty surrounding the lease of the premises and had nothing to do with the plays, Councillor Ned Brennan called them, “Funny Bunnies from across the water”. The Corporation was forced to revoke the decision when Project managed to purchase the site at East Essex Street.