The Spire of Dublin is complete, but the debate about it is far from over. Aidan Dunne takes a straw poll from members of the arts community
Barbara Dawson, director of the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery, has "an enviable" view of the Spire from her office in Charlemont House. "I love cranes, so I've enjoyed the whole process of construction. I think it's an amazing feat of engineering. It's a terrific light conductor and I'm really keen to see it when all the protective coverings are removed.
"It did bother me that it doesn't relate proportionately to anything around it, but now, seeing it, it is interesting that it is disproportionate to its surroundings. It wouldn't have the same impact otherwise. It's brave and symbolic, and I hope that it will ignite and encourage the further refurbishment of the area, that it will bring people into the street as a promenade, right up to the top of Parnell Square." She is hoping to mount an exhibition of drawings and other images relating to the Spire at the Hugh Lane Gallery.
John O'Regan of art and architectural publishers Gandon Editions, who have published a great deal in relation to O'Connell St, hasn't yet seen the finished Spire. Previously he queried its location, suggesting that it might be more appropriate in the Docklands, linking outlying areas back to the city centre, rather than vice versa. But he regards it as an elegant design in itself. "It's a focal point, a necessary vote of confidence in the north inner city. But there are wider and more fundamental issues in relation to the area. There's a need for greater momentum. Things should be happening at a much faster pace."
Willie White, artistic director of Project, is very conscious of the Spire as an addition to his skyline: "I can see it from my office and it looks very elegant from here. Although up close, when you're right under it, I think it's ugly. It's a pity it wasn't offset slightly from the Talbot St-Henry St axis. I liked being able to see straight through.
"And it is a bit unfortunate that it resembles a hypodermic needle given its location. But on balance it does seem to have engendered a real sense of civic pride, and if it does that, and attracts tourists and so on, then it's worth it. Of course it has to be said that O'Connell St needs much more than the spike to revive it."
Sculptor Michael Warren, no stranger to large scale public pieces in his own work, initially had some doubts about the height of the Spire. He hasn't had a chance to see it in completed form in situ as yet, but he is still unsure about the height. "The question is whether it is more than an engineering feat, which it certainly is. To move beyond that, for me, for it to become art, there has to be a sense of limit. If we can read it only upwards, if it simply soars away from us, then it disregards the human scale and that would take from it." For him, as a sculptor, "this sense of limit, and the question of ratio, both within the piece and in relation to its setting, are the vital questions. That's what would make it more than a piece of spectacular street theatre. As a symbol of Dublin, it should be more, and that's what I'll be looking for."
Declan McGonagle was very much in favour of the Spire while he was director of the Irish Museum of Modern Art. Now with the City Arts Centre, he has a view of the Spire from his office on City Quay and is still very much in favour. "I'm delighted with it. It's interesting, listening to the various radio and telephone polls and so on, the extent to which people have responded to it, so that it takes on this collective sense of the centre of Dublin. I think the idea of a platform, of offering a vantage point on the city, would have been interesting, but as it is it's an elegant form, it's just great."
Ian Lumley can see the Spire both from his home in Henrietta St and from his office at An Taisce. "It provides a focal point that the street lacked. Whether it will stand the test of time, I don't know. I think it has nothing like the resonance of the column it replaces. I was very disappointed to hear the man responsible for blowing up the column, on radio, being so garrulous and unrepentant and blatant. The destruction of Nelson's Column was an act of cultural vandalism on a par with anything done by the Taliban. It was the tallest doric column in Europe, it had full public access, and it complemented the classical architecture of the street perfectly. It ranked among the great monuments in any European city and it was a terrible historical loss."