Have you exhausted the possibilities of city-centre socialising (not dinner in Eden again), or maybe you're trying to think what to do with foreign visitors who have 24 hours to see all of Ireland? Since Wednesday, there is an alternative. Part of the redevelopment of the Leopardstown racecourse is the Baileys Centre, which will house a conference centre, a Kilkenny shop and ICON.
ICON is described by the publicity people as "an innovative bar and restaurant venue," which sounds inoffensive enough until you read the rest of the description - "a union between architectural bravado and the talents of craftspeople who have turned an ambitious concept into a breathtaking reality." In other words, it is an extraordinarily grand theme pub. ICON claims to take you around Ireland, while treating you to an experience of luxury.
The first thing you'll see on entering is a replica of the Round Tower at Glendalough, which has functioned as a visual shorthand for the attractions of Celtic Ireland at least since Victorian stage sets were advertised as including "the famous Tower of Glendaloch." The image has lost none of its associations since the birth of the Celtic Tiger, but it is unusual to see it in a venue which hopes for as much local as tourist trade.
Once inside, and safely past the 12-minute sound and light show Eiru (apparently named after an ancient Irish goddess of beauty), you can choose which part of the Irish environment suits you best. To the right is the Pier at Carlingford, with less of a breeze, but more places to sit and drink. Straight ahead is the massive oak-countered bar, and behind it is Trinity Library. Yes, that's right, complete with leather armchairs (they do themselves nicely, these academics) and a ghostly portrait of David Norris reciting poetry. This is the first time you come in contact with the extraordinary hi-tech entertainment - one of the things which makes this place more original than your average Irish theme pub. Tear yourself away from the beaux yeux of the man from North Great George's Street, however, because there is much more to come. Upstairs, you can sit in "the Mill", enjoying the spray of a waterfall copied from Powerscourt, which rushes down opposite the Cliffs of Moher. Watch closely, because occasionally holographic singers will emerge from the spray to amuse the drinkers, while the cloudscape behind will change at the whim of the computer, which can even conjure up a thunderstorm.
On the same level, you can choose between "The Vaults", a quiet area with padded seats and fragments of brick vaulting overhead, and "The Street", the essence of Georgian Dublin, except for the weather. No-expense-spared lighting and air-conditioning will conspire to make drinkers feel part of a bustling street scene; and those who get a bit peckish can order food from the fishmongers and ponder on Molly Malone's true profession. The trompe l'oeil scenes of Stephen's Green, the Ha'penny Bridge and the Four Courts are disconcertingly real, backlit by fibre optic cables, and it takes a while to work out how little they actually represent reality. The next snippet of "Ireland" is a Victorian snug, based loosely on The Crown in Belfast, and no, it will not be possible to reserve it. Given that ICON will be open from 10 a.m., this might mean that getting there early to bag the snug will entail drinking from the morning till night. However, even if you don't manage to ensconce yourself and friends in the snug, with its own bartender, project manager Peter O'Connor promises no queues for drinks.
"It's a place of indulgence, and that means we are committed to seeing that the consumers get what they want, that they are pampered." To this end, they will have a limit of 650 customers at any one time. With such a vast venue, (20,000 sq ft), the temptation to cram them in, in the style of too many huge city centre pubs, would be strong, but O'Connor is adamant that this won't happen. "You could fit a thousand in here, but that would destroy the experience."
"Experience" and "indulgence" are words that come up often in conversation with O'Connor, who has spent the last 17 months trying to ensure that ICON will completely satisfy its clientele, from the grand concept to the minor details. Any attempts to think of issues that might cause problems are quashed by his ready answers.
The place will be well served for transport, with a taxi-stand, and possibly a Slan Abhaile service (that's when someone drives you home in your car, with a little bicycle in the boot, so he can get home), not to mention Dublin Bus. All but one of the areas within the multilevel venue are wheelchair accessible. The staff have been in training since mid-February as bar staff, waiters, and tourism consultants. Less than a week before the opening, they were redoing the toilets because "we weren't entirely happy with them".
This is a place where every aspect of the product has been considered, and worked on until it is as high quality as it can be. All the furniture is made by craftspeople, staff can make any cocktail under the sun, and there is a little multimedia display where you can find out anything you want to about Baileys, the makers of Irish Cream, and owners of the entire complex.
The man in charge of making sure all of this works smoothly is Donal O'Gallagher, formerly general manager of the Shelbourne Hotel, and now managing director of Ubiquity Ltd, the company to which Baileys has contracted out the day-to-day running of ICON. He will oversee a team of some 85 employees, including chef Stephane Filipelli, in charge of the five different "food-acts".
Grandest of these is "The Restaurant", which has a surprisingly realistic country kitchen atmosphere. Apparently when things are up and running, the windows will have lifelike views of cows at pasture - a bit of a shock for diners coming in from pre-prandial drinks in the ultra-modern glass-floored "Conservatory" bar, based on the Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin.
This is "Ireland - the Highlights" with a vengeance. If you want to see more of the country, but don't have time to take a long weekend in Clare, and anyway you're nervous about going anywhere your mobile phone might be out of range, this is the place for you. It might call itself ICON, but surely a more appropriate name would be The TigerPit.