MOST GATHERINGS of developers and agents these days can be gloomy affairs given the dire state of the property market.
This certainly was not the case last week at a good humoured lunch in Dublin’s Conrad Hotel to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of Dermot Pierce, the managing director of Earlsfort Developments.
Dermot was one of the most colourful and entertaining figures in the Dublin property market for over 30 years and was responsible for the development of eight office blocks and the Conrad Hotel at the Earlsfort Centre, opposite the National Concert Hall.
He also handled the development of the 20-acre Eastpoint Business Park in the Dublin docklands.
Matt Gallagher, chairman of Earlsfort, hosted last week's lunch which was attended by 85 of Dermot's closest business friends as well as his widow, Joan, daughter, Melissa, and one of his two sons, Gavin.
John Mulcahyof Jones Lang LaSalle, a witty orator and raconteur, recalled an almost endless stream of humorous episodes from Dermot's professional life and linked them to many of the guests, including three former investment advisers, Ian French (Savills), Alan Bradley (Jones Lang) and Roderick Downer (Colliers Jackson-Stops).
