The Irish Times

Jim Barrett

Those achievements have been substantial. Projects he was involved in as a "mover and shaker" include the Liffey Boardwalk, the Spire in O'Connell Street, the restoration of City Hall, the remaking of Smithfield, the Millennium footbridge and the James Joyce bridge at Blackhall Place, among other interventions. Jim Barrett had made his name in Limerick, of course. And it is largely due to his 20-year-old vision of turning the city around to face the Shannon that the riverside is now peppered with apartments, offices, restaurants, pubs and shops as well as two high-rise buildings - the Clarion hotel and Riverpoint office block. Pat Keogh, the developer to whom he has agreed to sell his home at Eglinton Wood - subject to planning permission - is based in Limerick, coincidentally. The scheme of townhouses, designed by an old friend, architect Gerry Mitchell, has been approved by city council planners, but is certain to be appealed by local residents. Barrett entered the planning arena on previous occasions, often in defence of high-rise schemes, such as the abortive Skidmore Owings and Merrill plan for George's Quay and at least some elements of the overblown master plan for the National Conference Centre site at Spencer Dock, by Irish expatriate Kevin Roche.