Tuesday, July 21, 2009

In case things weren't bad enough already

Front page of the Irish Times today...

THE TÁNAISTE has warned a number of professions that the Government will not back down in its drive to increase competition and get better value as it tackles the economic crisis.

Specifying “engineers, architects, the legal profession, dentists and others”, Mary Coughlan told the MacGill Summer School at Glenties, Co Donegal, last night she would be submitting a report to Government on the issue before the end of the year.

Observing that there were sectors which had yet to feel the “chill winds of economic reality”, the Tánaiste said “certain professions” had yet to reveal how they intended to reduce fees and charges and she went on to accuse them of “economic conceit”.


Link to Irish Times article

I think architects have felt the "chill winds of economic reality" already, judging by the results on the survey so far. Only 24% of respondents have had neither a pay cut nor a reduction in hours. I suspect that most of that 24% are public sector architects.

6 comments:

  1. What are the RIAI going to do about this?

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  2. The same thing they do every day, Pinky....

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  3. This really throws your previous post into sharp relief. Coughlan's bludgeoning ignorance of the plight of building professionals is one thing (although, astonishingly, it's pretty much what we've come to expect); the fact that she seems to get away with making these statements is another.

    It comes down to the RIAI's apparent lack of knowledge as to what they are.

    (The following really relates to your previous post, but hey)

    Their function - or, at least, a large part of their function - is as a lobby group. It's something they do very badly. I'm told by others that the RIAI have responded quite well in a purely reactive sense, but in terms of getting architects' voices heard they're a disaster. What's annoying is that there's plenty of young, media-aware architects who could do this job very well, if the RIAI could only be bothered using them.

    Failing that, hire professional PR people or lobbyists to do the work that the RIAI can't do. I'm a long way from being a fan of those methods, but desperate times and all that.

    When Batt O'Keeffe made wildly inaccurate claims about design fees, the response was a long waffling letter that I couldn't even bring myself to read to the end; this will probably elicit the same reaction. The orgainisation seems to have no idea of how to use the media and how to represent themselves, and it seems to have become endemic; the result being that sites like this are actually a more effective voice.

    In response to your question of "what are the RIAI going to do"... I'm guessing they'll whine a bit. We've now reached a stage where that's inexcusable.

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  4. "but in terms of getting architects' voices heard they're a disaster."

    I couldn't agree more with this. I'm getting the feeling that they are starting to get a bit rattled by the antipathy felt by some architects towards them and are aware that they need to be more visibly active. At least John Graby got his letter in to the Times yesterday. It's worth taking a look at Sean O'Laoire's letter too - it will probably be published tomorrow.
    http://riai.ie/index.html?id=7451

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  5. Yes, but I think this shows up the problem. We're happy about some letters being published in the Irish Times and James Pike getting a few minutes on Newstalk. And - well - the bloke sitting opposite me in work also had a letter in the Irish Times (that'll be Mícheál de Siún, that will). I mean, I wrote one myself (although my inability to write anything that doesn't feature swear words / libellous statements limited its efficacy somewhat, so I wasn't surprised that they didn't publish it).

    This isn't an occasion for a "well done", it's the very minimum we should expect. And no more.

    If the RIAI were to spend a bit of the huge amount of money they get from architects every year on a capable, suitably soulless PR company with a bulging address book... then you could be looking at maybe two decent-size articles in the national newspapers, a full debate on the Last Word with a government representative, and possibly something on television.

    Media's a pretty specialised arena and we have to be able to manipulate it. Failing that, we need to hire people who can.

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  6. Fair point. However I'm of the opinion that the RIAI is no longer going to be the representative body for registered architects. From the survey results so far, there is a significant number of architects who intend to join the Register only and cease to be members of the RIAI. Why is the Register being maintained by the RIAI? It is a conflict of interest. Holding your members to ransom by charging the same amount of money to leave the RIAI and join the Register as an annual membership (€600) is an obvious ploy to keep members.http://www.riai.ie/public/admissions/fee_schedule.pdf They should make it more appealing to be a member in the first instance.

    /off topic

    That said, as our only 'voice' out there currently, you are right -it is vital that they are more media-savvy.

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