Sir, - Your recent coverage of the redevelopment proposals for Carlisle Pier, Dun Laoghaire raises questions which deserve wider debate.
Both Frank McDonald's report of August 29th and Robert O'Byrne's Irishman's Diary of September 1st refer to the regenerative power that an "iconic" building can have on a city, and it is fair to say that Ireland does not yet have such a building. However, it is important to recognise that such buildings most often result from international architectural competitions, thus allowing a final choice to be made from a wide range of designs, as well as encouraging new architectural talent. More importantly, such landmark buildings are predominantly cultural in nature, rather than commercial, e.g. the Tate Modern Gallery, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, the Sydney Opera House, the pyramid at the Louvre.
In the case of the Carlisle Pier proposal, the "Irish Diaspora Museum" is clearly a minor cultural element in an overwhelmingly commercial mix of a 250-bedroom hotel, 250 apartments, shops, restaurants and bars. Does Dun Laoghaire need this scale of commercial development? Are we willing to accept a building of (possible) international stature at any price? If we, as a nation, need or want a diaspora museum, let us have some proper debate on this matter, rather than it being foisted on us as a "sweetener" in an otherwise purely commercial venture. - Yours, etc.,
Denis Duggan Ballycumber, Co Offaly.