Repair work to start today on Dublin Spire lights

An attempt is to be made today to restore the failed lights at the top of the Spire of Dublin

An attempt is to be made today to restore the failed lights at the top of the Spire of Dublin.  The lights,  inside the tip of the 120-metre high Spire, began to dim last month and must be repaired during daylight hours to prevent the monument becoming an aviation hazard.

The internal lights should illuminate the optical glass upper section of the stainless steel monument and it is hoped that once repaired, the lights will be fully functioning by the end of next week.

The Spire, which cost almost  €5m, was designed by Ian Ritchie, an English architect whose early career included working on the glass pyramids at the Louvre, in Paris.

The failure of the lights is the latest in a series of mishaps to become the Spike, as it is known colloquially. The orange warning beacon attached to its tip when the final section of the Spire was lifted into place, in January, blew off only days later.