Sculpture on the streets

IT LOOKS as if a head of steam is finally building up about the state of O'Connell Street, that national boulevard masquerading as one long fast food buffet. On last Mondays Questions and Answers on RTE, there were calls to do away with the Floozie in the Jacuzzi, commissioned from Eamonn O'Doherty by the Smurfit Corporation. What is needed, some say, is a perpendicular sculpture to take the place of Nelson's Pillar.

Meanwhile, a day after details of the Public Art Research Project Steering Group Report were published on this page, President Robinson unveiled Rowan Gillespie's Famine sculptures outside the Customs House, donated to the State by Norma Smurfit. While this generosity is estimable, the One of Rowan Gillespie's question remains: should major public sculpture commissions Famine sculptures outside the Customs House, not be won by public competition, or should our public spaces reflect the taste of those donated to the State by Norma Smurfit with the most resources at their command?