Dublin Airport main terminal, Lower Mount Street's office blocks, and Hume House in Ballsbridge are among the buildings identified by Irish architects as prime for demolition. However, unlike Cedric Price, most regard the bulldozers as a last resort and believe even the eye-sores aren't beyond repair.

"It's not a sustainable position to keep knocking down and rebuilding," says Eoin O Cofaigh, president of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland. As much as half of all landfill waste is accounted for by demolition rubble, he notes. "We should be looking to reduce not increase that amount of waste."

However, he says there are at least 200 major buildings around the country constructed in the last 30 years, which one could be tempted to demolish. Top of that list is Dublin Airport. "I'd knock about half of it. A lot of it is a dump. The whole entrance sequence is just terrible." The twin pillars at Pigeon House, the antennae on Andrews Street post office, and Arthur's Quay car-park in Limerick also come in for mention.

In general, however, Mr O Cofaigh says "you don't have to knock down a building to improve its appearance. One simple and cost-effective way of dealing with Lower Mount Street, which must be the ugliest street in Dublin, would be to widen the path and plant trees in front of all the office blocks."

Architect Des McMahon, whose recent designs include the Collins Barracks museum and the new Croke Park stand, also argues against the fashion-led approach which Price espouses. He says the secret to good design is "creating something which encapsulates the values of society and can remain forever a monument to that society."

Buildings should be designed to endure trends, he says, not to be changed when the next fad comes along. Among those buildings which have dated well, he says, are the Central Bank Mint building in Sandyford and the Berkley Library in Trinity College.

Dublin-based architect Andrzej Wejchert has some sympathy for Mr Price. A building should be designed "in such a way to take changes in society and act in a flexible manner".

However, giving buildings a 20-year life-span is not sustainable, says Mr Wejchert, who designed the UCD campus in Belfield. Large-scale demolition isn't necessary in Ireland, he adds. "There are plenty of examples of buildings being successfully recycled" such as the Guinness Hopstore.