Daft Property - Irish Property News

Nama declines to issue list of art collections to be auctioned... A NUMBER of valuable artworks seized by the National Asset Management Agency from property developers are to be put up for auction in the coming months. However, Nama has declined to provide a list of the art collections it has acquired, saying only that it was “keenly interested in getting best prices for the works”. Last month, the agency published a list of assets it had for sale but it made no reference at that time to the various art collections seized from developers who own billions to the banks. While the agency will not name the individuals involved, it has already seized the art collection of Derek Quinlan – a former tax inspector turned property speculator, and resident of Shrewsbury Road, Dublin 4 – who moved to Switzerland in 2009. It is expected other collections assembled during the boom will come under Nama’s control in the months and years ahead as the assets of other developers and companies a...

Investors snap up 'bankable' artworks... WORKS from famous landscape artists are being snapped up by investors as 'bankable' options for their nest eggs. Antiques, furniture, art, gold, stamps and coins are once again being purchased as long-term investments, according to people in the auction industry. It comes as property values continue to fall and confidence in the stock markets -- and particularly in bank shares -- remains fragile. Now those with money to invest towards their retirement are looking to the art world. "They think they (paintings) are bankable and they are probably right," said Ian Whyte, managing director of Dublin auction house Whyte's. "I remember particularly in the late '70s, when inflation was running at 18pc to 20pc a year, people were purchasing tangible art collections, antiques, furniture, stamps and coins. "People are uncertain about banks and they want to buy into something tangible. Property is no...

How do you solve a problem like Clongriffin? The bubble burst leaving the new north Dublin suburb in the lurch. Now designers and architects are figuring out what can be done to create a sense of community... SO WHAT do you do with a place that’s merely a fragment of what was planned? Clongriffin, on the north fringe of Dublin, was supposed to have a population of 30,000 to 40,000, with all the communal facilities they would need. But construction ground to a halt when the bubble burst, leaving the area’s residents high and dry. Enter Designing Dublin, a unique initiative by Design 21st Century, founded by Jean Byrne and Jim Dunne, who are both members of the Crafts Council of Ireland with backgrounds in business. Dunne was inspired by an exhibition at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art about how design could address current challenges. They brought in Vannesa Ahuactzin, a young American architect who did a year’s programme at the Institute Without Boundaries in Toronto, which spe...

The Million Euro Man...We can rebuild him... Great to see Irish taxpayers money being spent on essential Dublin city projects! Why not pretend it's still "Celtic Tiger" time and just forget about Ireland's current recession, property crash, 3rd world conditions of public hospitals, spiralling cost of surviving and the debt the country is in etc etc!... Dublin says yes to giant sculpture in the Liffey ... On the Sunday Times... "Dublin city council has granted planning permission for Antony Gormley’s 48-metre statue in the River Liffey. Objectors to the Iron Man wire sculpture had included a group of 96 nearby residents who said it would tower over their houses on the quays. There is a four-week deadline for objections to be submitted to An Bord Pleanala. There were fears that the statue would become a roost for birds and be coated with droppings. One of the conditions set down by the council is that the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA), which commiss...