Sir, – It was great to read Frank McDonald’s ideas on future use for the Bank of Ireland building on College Green (Weekend Review, November 10th).
One of its main problems is its very name. While our historic marriage with Britain has been a cataclysm, all told, the old parliament building, for its architecture and sheer stately dominance of that city area alone, deserves, indeed demands to be brought back to the people as a place of civic congregation, as McDonald suggests.
Perhaps then, too, the public might begin to wonder at its storied past. Something its limited access as a financial institution hardly allows. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Frank McDonald’s and Olivia Kelly’s list of “10 ways to make Dublin better”, (Weekend Review, November 10th), asks for the creation of a science museum in the Docklands. Following 25 years of submissions, appeals, and advocacy, by Discovery to the Docklands Authority, this article’s endorsement is welcome.
Stack A/CHQ was conserved with the declared intention that it contain a museum element; design work commissioned by the authority, for this publicly funded project, planned for the installation of a museum in the southern portion of CHQ, and in the vaults beneath. A levy of €1.5 million per annum will be paid to this museum in CHQ by the tenants of the IFSC for 25 years, once the doors of the museum open. As things stand, only the DDDA can decide that it is time to fulfil its remit and transform CHQ from a “ghost shopping mall” into a vibrant people-pulling centre for public understanding of science. – Yours, etc,