Sir, – If the State is to prioritise “cost and efficiency over design standards and aesthetics” according to Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers (“Cost to take priority over ‘aesthetics’ in future State infrastructure projects,” June 27th), this surely rates as one of the most depressing statements ever made by a Government Minister.
It is breathtaking in its philistinism and extraordinary in its one-dimensionality.
Good design needn’t cost a fortune – other European countries such as Austria, Denmark and The Netherlands seemingly have had no difficulty in constructing beautiful and interesting buildings.
An attractive environment also carries with it feelings of wellbeing and national pride. We are one of the richest countries in the world and can afford to build beautiful.
RM Block
We are also one of most incompetent and inefficient when it comes to public projects, and that has little or nothing to do with the costs of aesthetically pleasing design.
The Minister might consider that public buildings have long lives and the ugliness that men do will inflict it on many generations to come. Dublin City Council’s offices at Wood Quay and Kildare County Council’s headquarters in Naas are just two carbuncles about which one has to apologise to bemused foreign visitors.
And these excrescences will be with us for a long time. Finally, “design standards” are absolutely critical to the provision of proper and workable public infrastructure – they are not an optional extra.
If the Minister is worried about costs (and he should be – see the national children’s hospital, for instance) he would be more productively employed sorting out the not-fit-for-purpose planning and public procurement systems, and the seemingly complacent attitude of many public authorities to tolerating vast cost overruns for all sorts of projects. – Yours, etc,
IAN D’ALTON,
Naas,
Co Kildare.
