Maligned spire to makes its Dublin debut today

BEFORE construction work ever began, Dublin’s infamous Millennium Spike had already generated more conversation and criticism than any other monument in the capital.

Not to mention its fair share of traditional witticism and several legal objections.

But finally Dubliners will this morning get a teasing glimpse of what all the hullabaloo was about when the first 20 metre section of the 'stiletto in the ghetto' is raised into position.

Weather permitting, the base of the 5m Millennium Spire, designed by Ian Ritchie, will commence at 8.30am. Engineers are expected to take an hour and a half to lift the first section of the 'spire so dire' into place using a 1,000 tonne crane the biggest in Ireland.

When completed the monument officially christened the Monument of Light will stand 390 feet high twice the height of Liberty Hall and will be lit from dusk to dawn from a glass tip beaming streams of light across the city skyline.

The slender and much-maligned object will measure just three metres at its base, rising to 0.1 metre at its peak.

Dublin City Council also plans to construct a continental-type plaza around the 'jab in the slab,' which will form the centrepiece of Dublin's main thoroughfare, as part of the O'Connell Street rejuvenation project.

Work on the first section of the 'syringe on the fringe' was completed on Monday at Radley's Engineering in Dungarvin, Co Waterford before being ferried on a special transporter at 2.30 am to Baldonnel.

Last night at 11.30pm the 'north side needle' left on its last journey bound for O'Connell Street.

The mammoth transporter carrying the 'spire in the mire' took two hours, escorted by gardaí, to reach its final destination where it will remain forever Dublin's fondest 'pole in the hole'.