Sir, - I urge anybody who has not already done so to visit the exhibition at the Civic Offices, Wood Quay, to see for themselves what might have been for O'Connell Street. This little display shows the efforts of all the wannabees who submitted plans for a "suitable" monument for our premier thoroughfare, and what an exercise in mediocrity it turned out to be. Rest assured, the pointy thing was not the worst, by any means.
The most idiotic entry, in my opinion, was indubitably a moving obelisk, going from the perpendicular to about 60 degrees off the vertical. One shudders to think what damage a hydraulic failure would have wrought. Many subscribed to the freak laser show format, and a good proportion incorporated some sort of viewing platform, which is a missed opportunity with the winning attempt. There was also a fair number of Irish-American attempts in the blood-and-thunder category, including one which depicted the traffic driving on the right-hand side of the road! Do they know something we don't?
However, a more cost-effective solution is at hand, thanks to a recent letter in The Irish Times. A faithful servant of the city is about to be retired, and scrapped. What a fitting memorial it would be to have this servant reinstated in the middle of O'Connell Street, as a reminder of our murky past, and the promise of a bright, sterile future under the control of the EU, which has brought about this change!
The Sir Joseph Bazalgette, which for many years plied to and fro with the soil of the citizens of Dublin, would fit just nicely where the Floozie now reposes. I mean, why pay for crappy ideas when you can have the real thing? - Yours, etc., D. K. Henderson,
Castle Avenue, Clontarf, Dublin 3.