Surely anything is better than ‘The Stiffy By The Liffey’?
Dublin City Council are set to discuss a motion to name the Spire on O’Connell Street after the late Nelson Mandela.
Mandela died on December 5th at the age of 95.
Lord Mayor of Dublin Oisín Quinn received a letter from a member of the public who said that the Spire’s proximity to a Dunnes Stores outlet, where workers refused to handle fruit because it came from South Africa during Apartheid, would make it a fitting tribute to Mandela.
It seems unlikely that a new ‘Nelson’s Column’ will form the centrepiece of Dublin’s main thoroughfare, however, given the fact that landmarks can’t be named after people who have been dead for fewer than 20 years.
“We can’t make an exception – it is a policy,” councillor Niall Ring told Newstalk.
“For example when we were considering naming the new Luas bridge the name of my own constituency colleague the late Tony Gregory was put forward, which would have had huge merit given his role in the city over many years.
“But we couldn’t consider him because of the 20-year rule.”
Twitter, for its part, does not consider it the brightest of ideas.
If they’re going to name The Spire in the spirit it was installed in the first place it should be called Bertie Ahern’s Erection.
— Colm Tobin (@colmtobin) January 15, 2014
http://t.co/TIq8L41dRf – whoever had this idea should be repeatedly kicked in the balls for half an hour.
— twentymajor (@twentymajor) January 15, 2014
Dublin City Council is debating the renaming of the Spire after Nelson Mandela. And they wonder why people don’t vote in local elections.
— Peter Stafford (@peterstafford) January 15, 2014
I see they’re thinking of naming Dublin’s spire after Nelson Mandela. This is the most stupid idea anyone’s thought up since apartheid.
— Colm Tobin (@colmtobin) January 15, 2014
Millennium spire to be renamed Nelson Mandela pillar/spire!!..we’re a gas country!
— callum riches (@CallumRiches) January 15, 2014
(Hat-tip: Breakingnews.ie)
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