The Irish Times

It's okay being locked onto a roof, for a short while anyway. If you're stuck in a lift there's that sense of claustrophobia but being on a roof is rather pleasant - out in the open, taking in the surroundings. As architect Martin Henchion struggles with the lock, trying to release us back into his new community centre building, I peer out of the huge windows, set in a high iroko-clad parapet wall, towards the church opposite on Donore Avenue, Dublin 8. This road is a frontline between mainly private housing on one side and the large St Theresa's Gardens estate on the other. There is a perfectly happy mix between the two, says one resident, but there is a hard core of "angry, hungry" boys who roam the streets.