There was a number of "firsts" when the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern opened the Grosvenor Room Gallery in the Ormond Quay Hotel on Tuesday night. It was the first time this exhibition of Picasso drawings and ceramics had come to Ireland, the first time most people had seen the newly re-vamped hotel, and, as one guest was heard to remark sotto voce, "the first time a lot of these guests have been north of the Liffey in a long time". Despite the "choo-choo flu", there was a hugh crowd packed into the small gallery, and at £25,000 for an earthenware vase, it was doubtful that many were doing a spot of Christmas shopping. Bertie Ahern displayed nerves of steel when he was handed one of the larger pieces during the opening ceremony - not a shake in his hand at all. After welcoming the new gallery and hotel, he commented that it was going to be a fairly Grosvenor week for him, what with this gallery and the Fianna Fail bash in London's Grosvenor Park Hotel on Friday. Just about anyone who was anybody with Irish descent was expected to turn up to this £150-a head dinner, including Terry Wogan, Bob Geldof, the McGann actor brothers and Manchester United's manager, Alex Ferguson.
In fact, the new Dublin gallery gets its name from a connection with the Grosvenor Gallery in London. Hotel developers Paul Tiernan and Martin Flattery asked artist, gallery owner and Leopold Bloom impersonator, Gerald Davis, to advise them on a gallery within the much smartened Ormond Quay Hotel. Gerald in turn got in touch with his old pal, Ray Parman, owner of the Grosvenor Gallery in London, who agreed to a collaboration after seeing the Dublin space. In future, artists exhibiting in the London gallery will have the opportunity to show in Dublin too - apparently, a good number of Ray's clients in London are Irish anyway.
One of the people who managed to have a quick word with the Taoiseach before he was whisked off to another function in the Burlington was the Mexican ambassador, Daniel Dultzin, who has recently returned to Dublin from a trip home to Mexico. Before you get too jealous, it should be stressed that this was no mere holiday - Dultzin managed to entertain 47 Irish Georgian Society members, Gerry Adams and Albert Reynolds in the month he spent in Mexico.
While the traffic was the main subject of conversation, two other topics surfaced rather regularly too - the Miss World competition which took place on Thursday, and the Irish licensing laws. Krish Naidoo, who owned the franchise for Miss Ireland until last year, was chatting with former Miss Ireland Ann Marie Gannon and reminiscing about his time spent as a judge for the Miss World competition in his home country, South Africa, last year. Just the night previously he had been chatting with his old friends and the owners of the competition, Eric and Julia Morley, in the Seychelles who said that the current Miss Ireland, Vivienne Doyle, was doing very well. Krish arrived with Aidan Doyle of the Burlington Hotel, who ended up deep in conversation with Robbie Fox of Renards and Donna Kavanagh, the manager of the new hotel bar, Sirens, about the rather restrictive Irish licensing laws. One man who approved of the artistic move north of the Liffey is Kevin Kavanagh who is moving his gallery, the Jo Rain, out of Temple Bar and opening the Kevin Kavanagh Gallery just off Capel Street. Artists present included Pauline Bewick, James Hanley and Jim Fitzpatrick.
Other guests included BP Fallon; Marie Claire Sweeney of the St Patrick's Festival; Tony Gregory TD; Cindy Cafolla and her sister Sharon Guernon who are opening their furniture business, Furnish, in Christ Church next week; Karla Elliot Walsh and her husband David Walsh of Platinum Interiors; Andrew Heffernan and model Vivienne Connolly.