Sir, - The plan for the conference hall complex (The Irish Times, December 17th) further confirms a theory of mine as to why Irish architecture has a barbaric fascination with what is big and pseudo-impressive. Roman civilisation, with its understanding of harmony and measure in building, never reached these shores.
Its penetration of Britain was obviously not enough to completely protect London from similar attitudes but at least that city never sounded the depths of our Woodquay debacle. In addition, most English architects have had the good grace to recognise that London, unlike Paris or Rome, has been severely damaged by modern architecture's tendency to be out of place and out of scale.
By contrast, in Ireland, a gigantic incongruity such as the latest and largest proposed defacement of an old European city is almost guaranteed to win awards. - Yours etc., Ray Monahan,
Castlegregory, Co. Kerry