March 2015 23
On articles about Royal Institute of the
Architects of Ireland in issues
 and  of Village
Dear Editor:
I refer to the above and, given that both articles make
repeated references to myself, request publication of
this letter.
Perhaps your reference to me as a “disenfranchised
and irritable ex-President of the RIAIis fair enough
Goodness knows, I have cause for irritation! and being
reminded of the great H.L. Mencken who wrote in his
own obituary As he got older, he got worse” well,
one takes your phrase on the chin, even if, as its been
ten years since we last spoke, somebody must have fed
you the line. Somebody a teeny bit unfair, my being,
after all, normally as sweet as apple pie …
Thats not the point.
I’ve been a member of the RIAI and paid my annual
subscription for an unbroken 33 years hitherto; and
as President in 1998-1999, am still occasionally flat-
tered to be told that, all in all, well, I wasn’t the worst
of them. Some interest therefore, some keen concern,
but more for my architect and technologist colleagues
than for the organisation itself. Because, Mr. Editor, to
paraphrase James Connollys remarks about Ireland:
to those of us who resigned, the RIAI is nothing with-
out its members, a vocational group which no less than
some but more than most, has suffered greatly through
forced emigration, decimation of livelihoods and crip-
pling depression for the past seven years. Because
when insiders put an organisation’s interests before
the public interest, we’re all in trouble.
The Gardaochána, over wire-tapping and penalty
points; the Churches, over child abuse; Rehab, over
taxpayersconcerns about money. None of us who
resigned wanted a “Rehab situation” as you said. And
for ten months we strove in private to avoid that.
So what, then?
Furthermore, since 2007 the RIAI has functions
conferred upon it by law. A statutory organization,
charged with regulating architects in the public inter-
est; in receipt of substantial taxpayers’ funds; with the
power of professional life and death over its members.
The Registrar, as creature of statute, maintains the
statutory register of architects. This isn’t some kind
of glorified golf club.
Lets look at all this from the taxpayers viewpoint.
The issue is simple:- money and how its spent. Income;
expenditure; transparency with public funds; account-
ability for public funds.
That is what those of us who resigned sought in pri-
vate for ten months and didn’t get.
In 2013, from a total income to the RIAI of just
under €3m, over €1m. came from public funds.
Please understand, for clarity and to avoid any mis-
understanding, that this correspondence does not
suggest any impropriety or negligence on the part of
any person. We asked questions, sought answers, and
feel we didn’t get them. The questions remain. This all
should and could have been sorted in private.
Before we resigned from the RIAI Council, neither
the Council nor the RIAI Remuneration Committee
knew the salary of the Registrar/CEO. And not for want
of asking. An absurd situation in a golf club; in my
view, an unacceptable one, where a person has statu-
tory duties.
Before we resigned, companies controlled by parties
connected to a senior employee got half a million over
six or so years. Uproar if in a golf club; but what in
an organisation with power conferred by statute, and
in receipt of public funds?
The Institute does a great job of employing and
training young architects on behalf of OPW, Depart-
ment of Education, County Councils and other public
bodies. It receives a management fee for this work.
Why these young people aren’t employed directly by
the State is beyond me; and the public procurement
and employment procedures are of legitimate public
interest.
Your ...the annual personal RIAI credit-card bill
for the Registrar/CEO in some years being some tens
of thousands of euro” was new to me.
I have been told theres good reason for this payment
method. But we can all agree that tens of thousands of
euro yearly sounds like a lot of money on any one per-
son’s credit card, and one would have thought there
might be more cost-effective ways of making large
payments.
The RIAI, a registered charity, has charitable tax
designation status. Privilege confers responsibility.
Those who resigned want the RIAI to be exemplary in
its financial management.
This is the only sustainable Way Forward. So all the
money spent on salaries in the Annual Accounts for
2013 deposited in the CRO might best be posted under
the heading Salariesand not some posted elsewhere.
Public and membership alike have a right to know.
Mr Editor there were other reasons for my/our res-
ignations also. Some of a more “golf-clubnature - and
some similar to the above. You yourself linked the res-
ignations with the current debacle of building control
regulations. (Same Government department, huge
public concern, but different issue.)
You’re not to be blamed, for thats the way some
people wanted it portrayed. The Registrar/CEO was
reported as saying we “did the honourable thing,
implying we resigned because we lost an EGM motion,
not proposed by us anyway and in advance of any
vote. Golf club stuff! I think he sort of retracted his
commendation afterwards and I’m confused as to
whether he now thinks the resignations were honour-
able, or dishonourable, or something in between But
thats not the point.
All of this should have been and could have been
dealt with in private. It wasn’t the resigners who
leaked our detail concerns to the public.
You are quite right about our reluctance topublicly
discredit the Institute”. Hence, my silence after your
first article. But this has gone far enough.
Yours faithfully,
Eoin O Cofaigh
Upper Mount Street
Dublin 2
March 2015
LETTERS
VILLAGE
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