Sir, I would like to commend both The Irish Times and Frank McDonald for yet again highlight ing the problems which exist in rural residential development.
It must be pointed out, however that from the information available to the Royal Institute of the Architects in Ireland only 10 per cent of these new dwellings are designed by properly qualified architects.allowing people without any experience or qualification to describe themselves as architects and to practise as architects. Ireland is one of very few developed countries in the world that would accept this extraordinary situation.
This institute has never said that using a qualified architect is a guarantee of good design, though it probably is. What we have said is that, everything else being equal, a person trained to design a building will produce a better design than a person who has not been trained. - Yours, etc.,
President, RIAI, Merrion Square, Dublin 2.