Sir, - The recent spate of suggested smart names for the proposed new monument has tended to cloud the real issue involved. This concerns the requirements of the competition brief which has been ignored by the panel of assessors.
The competition brief required the monument to have "a vertical emphasis, an elegant structure of 21st-century contemporary design which shall relate to the quality and scale of O'Connell Street as represented by the late 18th-century and early 20th-century architecture and civic design."
The winning submission chosen by the competition assessors does not remotely relate to the quality and scale of O'Connell Street nor to its buildings. This is beyond question and is self-evident.
It is painfully obvious even from the photograph you published in your edition of January 12th. - Yours, etc., Micheal O Nuallain,
Monkstown, Co Dublin.