Dublin's landmark Spire at 20

• Published date: 24 January 2023
• Publication title: Irish Times: Web Edition Articles (Dublin, Ireland)

My colleague and I were sent by the City Architect to meet the judging panel at the Spire so as to give some background to its design and construction

One of the judges was Kevin McCloud of Grand Designs. He put it to us that it was a bit of a "stretch" to regard this as a building . All other shortlisted projects were buildings.

The maintenance crew from Dublin City Council opened the ground access hatch and we all descended into the underground area to view the mechanism that steadies the Spire from swaying.

The complete underground area was covered with discarded lipstick.

The crew informed us that people who were meeting their dates at the Spire would use the...