Dublin Opinion

Forgive me please, I was looking at the Irish Times website quite idly earlier today, and was curious what one of the most popular items, called Dear World….from Ireland was about.

Apparently it’s a postcard competition:

“Three weeks ago we asked readers to send us their postcards for a modern Ireland – among the hundreds of entries were creative designs, stunning pictures and biting satire. Here’s a selection of the best, to go with the winning postcard inserted in today’s Irish Times”

As far as I can tell, this entry, categorised as one of the best, is not biting satire.

The photo is by Brian Matthews. I have no idea who he is, so there’s a chance that his comment on the photograph was misrepresented. But the paper quotes him as saying that its:

“A view of the new Convention Centre through the metal bridge of the old dry dock. Ireland will continue to develop in the future.”

Now, unless the Irish government starts hiring contractors to destroy important parts of Ireland’s infrastructure, blowing up bridges, draining harbours, shutting airports, wrecking motorways, as well as starving the population systematically, or shooting everyone under 30 who earns less than 50,000 euro – which I don’t rule out happening - its likely that Ireland will continue to develop in the future.

But the gist of the comment is that the convention centre, with it’s cool, innovative, modern design, represents the potential for future economic growth in Ireland. It points towards tax coffers being filled with inward investment. It’s a sign of international interest drawn towards the dynamism of our economy, which will lead to other fancy buildings in areas which previously had been hubs of the Irish economy.

Perhaps its trying to say more though. Is Brian, having framed this shot so well, saying that while commerce through the docks was strong and vibrant, where lots of goods moved in and out of the country on ships that dynamism has now been replaced by financial capital. The dockland warehouses, once filled with goods that may have passed over the metal bridge of the old dry dock at some point, have since been pulled down after years of emptiness and decay and are now being replaced by glittering towers of office space. Instead of cranes packing and unpacking goods along the bankside of the liffey, it is now the movement of money, imported and exported electronically, via banks of powerful computers that will drive the country.

This is the future of Ireland’s economy, as it develops, as Brian Matthews sees it.

Of course what Brian and the Irish Times see but choose not to mention – understandable perhaps considering it’s just a stupid fucking postcard competition, but these things speak to us still, and are important to respond to – is what this building really represents to the Irish people.

It’s represents soakage – in the sense that speculative capital needs to sink its money into something otherwise its value will deminish. The convention centre is a folly of speculative capitalism. It was built in an area that was designated with special tax benefits, and was controlled by an authority that was acting in the interests of a conglomerate of banks, developers and politicans. It looks stupid, although that may be a matter of taste and the sense that its design is absurd might be heightened by the fact that it, even within the terms of normal Public Private Partnership, is so recognizably a scam.

Anyway, it was this quote from an August 1st Irish Times article, which Conor has already highlighted that I was reminded of when I saw the image and read the comment.

STATE PAYMENTS of more than €43 million have been made to the consortium behind the National Convention Centre since its opening in Dublin’s docklands one year ago.

The payments represent a subsidy of more than €500 for each visitor to events held in the centre since last August.

The payments are part of the 2007 public-private partnership deal agreed by the then government with the Treasury Holdings-led consortium, Spencer Dock Convention Centre Dublin.

Under the deal, the State will pay the consortium about €715 million over 25 years before the centre reverts to State ownership.

Suppose its my own fault for looking at the IT website in the first place. Maybe if I thought about it I could have entered some of Conor’s images from the last couple of years.