The long-awaited lighting up of the Spire in Dublin will take place on Saturday, July 5th, now designated for the official "unveiling"of the silver monument, which has been repeatedly delayed.
A spokeswoman for Dublin City Council said that, although plans for the ceremony had yet to be finalised the Lord Mayor, Mr Dermot Lacey will perform the function as one of his last official duties. He leaves office on July 9th.
The Spire's architect, Mr Ian Richie, is also expected to attend.
The ceremony comes almost four months later than initially hoped; it had been scheduled for St Patrick's weekend. Delays were caused by problems with the aviation light which have now been resolved, said the project engineer, Mr Michael O'Neill.
He said yesterday that the new aviation light, which consists of 280 LEDs - light emitting diodes - would arrive from Britain in the next few days and be positioned in the next week.
"Once that happens we will have a very, very efficient light that will need very little maintenance. Then the Spire needs a bit of a clean and we will be ready for the official opening in July."
He said a number of factors, including overheating and connection problems, had caused the delay. He was confident these had been overcome.
A temporary red aviation light had been clipped in place since the Spire was fully erected in January, he said, but the new light will be white and measure half a metre across.
As well as the aviation light some 11,800 tiny holes around the top of the 120 m structure will emit light. These architectural lights also use LED technology.
