A MODEST proposal has been made by a reader, Finbarr Curran, about what to do with 7 Henrietta St, the grand but decrepit Georgian house on last week’s front page. It struck him that with so many now unemployed, maybe Dublin City Council could sponsor a restoration by providing some funding and a project manager to oversee the project, which would employ out-of-work architects and tradespeople.

“Once the house was completed, it could be sold, and the profits (after costs), would be divided in proportion to time spent on the project,” says Curran. “One of the main banks may redeem its name by funding the enterprise. Such a bank could afford to keep the property on its books until the market picks up. They could sell it as a fantastic CSR (corporate social responsibility) initiative.”

Any chance of that happening?