Approval of `Spike' likely by year end

The controversial "Monument of Light" proposed for Dublin's O'Connell Street is expected to be approved before Christmas.

The decision will be taken by the Minister for the Environment.

It was learned yesterday that Mr Dempsey's decision on the 120-metre stainless steel monument - commonly known as "The Spike" - will be subject to conditions, including a reduction in height to 100 metres (330 feet).

A report by the Department of the Environment's planning division is understood to have recommended that the £4 million project should proceed, on foot of an environmental impact statement commissioned by Dublin Corporation.

The Department's legal section is studying the proposed approval. al O Nuallain, who successfully challenged the City Council's original decision.

Designed by Mr Ian Ritchie, a London-based architect-engineer, the Monument of Light emerged as the winner of an international competition to find a suitable replacement for Nelson's Pillar, which was blown up by the IRA in February 1966.

The tapering "conical mast" was intended to be erected before the end of last year, in time to mark the millennium, but the High Court ruled that the corporation would have to carry out an EIS, because of its impact on the context of O'Connell Street.