Sir, - When John Moran (An Irishman's Diary, March 15th) pointed an incredulous finger at the needle proposed as Dublin's millennium commemoration project on the site of the Nelson Pillar, he voiced the dismay of many people. In the name of all common sense, civic pride and dignity, just why should this tawdry ornament be foisted on our capital city for generations to come?
While other capitals have significant monuments which in some way represent the cultural identity and traditions of their citizens, we will boast a meaningless vulgarity devoid of any significance.
Did anyone on the committee responsible for choosing this spike have the elementary guts to say: "None of the entries was suitable; we'll go again"? Or will anything do for the people of this city?
Interestingly - one might say ironically - the appropriate millennium project for Moscow (capital of recently godless Russia), is the opening of the rebuilt Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The trendy, "politically correct" sheep on the Island of Saints and Scholars, God help us, who browse the liberal pastures of ambiguous tolerance where neither moral consideration or ideal grows, might ponder this and what it implies. - Yours, etc., Eoin Neeson,
Blackrock, Co Dublin.