Even Better Than The Real Thing

The Protestant Ascendancy sat back while millions of impoverished Irish starved during An Gorta Mor. In spite of such abuse, the average Dubh is interested in preserving the plethora of Georgian architecture that was constructed during that troubled era. For good or ill, the Georgian buildings are tightly woven into the fabric of Dublin and few would like to see the old facades come down.

Bono and The Edge have something even better than the past. They have big plans for the old Clarence Hotel in the Temple Bar area. It's a posh enough address, with the likes of Bill Clinton spending the night on Saturday. He was in town to raise money for the missus, tapping into the coffers of well-heeled American ex-pats or Irish green card owners. Earlier in the day, he met with Bertie Ahern to talk Northern Ireland and peace. No mention of whether or not An Taoiseach had a suitcase filled with money to slip into Bill's hands, but what are friends for if not to come to a friend's aid? One dig-out deserves another.

The Clarence Hotel is small, too few rooms to generate much profit from the tourist trade. That being the case, U2's front men asked for, and just received, permission to tear down four neighboring buildings, each one of them listed as a Georgian treasure. Can't put up an eye-popping spectacle of a tower without the space, and surely that's enough reason for Dublin City Council to green light the project. The law is clear, that only exceptional circumstances will allow for the destruction of a listed structure. Nothing more exceptional than U2, is there?

The former head of An Taisce, Michael Smith, is outraged that four listed buildings will disappear forever. City Conservation architect Clare Hogan is on record as recommending a no vote on the demolition, claiming that the circumstances aren't the least bit exceptional.

Anthony Abbot-King has a different opinion. The senior executive planner believes that the owners (Bono and The Edge) have demonstrated exceptional economic reasons and doesn't the west end of Temple Bar need a good tarting up? Besides, the Georgians are old and rundown and there's going to be this magnificent new tower all aglow so it's out with the old, in with the new.

An Bord Pleanala has yet to weigh in on the case, but if they approve, there will be a fight in court to protect buildings that were supposed to be protected.

It's largely a matter of opinion as far as preservation goes. Bono himself brought up the lingering emotional pain of the Great Famine that is woven into the Irish psyche, and he may be glad to see four more reminders of British cruelty removed from Dublin forever. One need only take another look at the artist's rendering of the proposed hotel complex, and examine carefully the recording studio that has been described as a space ship suspended in the air. It's not a spaceship at all. It's a giant spud, towering over the quay, as the Celtic Tiger thumbs its nose at the once mighty Empire.