Why we need to talk about Kevin Roche....

Kevin Roche

Does Bertie Ahern know what's going on? That's the basic question posed by internationally renowned Dublin-born architect Kevin Roche on foot of all the obstacles he has had to negotiate to get his design for the National Conference Centre (NCC) off the ground at Spencer Dock. Roche is too much of a gentleman to say what he really thinks of the saga that has unfolded since he was first commissioned to do the project by Johnny Ronan, of Treasury Holdings. It would be "unprintable", he said politely in an interview in Dublin last week prior to a lecture at the National Gallery. Asked about the contrast between his experience here and in other parts of the world, he said: "Let's put it this way, it's very Irish. Nothing is simple. There are so many different bodies with different agendas. "The only one other country I've worked in that has the same 'hidden agenda' world is France". Roche rattled off some of the names - Dublin City Council, the Docklands Development Authority, the Office of Public Works, An Bord Pleanála, not to mention his own clients - and laughed knowingly when I suggested it must have been like playing a game of musical chairs in a hall of mirrors.

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