The 400 foot tall Spire on O'Conner Street, Dublin. Completed July 7, 2003 and known locally as "the Spike" the Spire was designed by the limey firm, Ian Ritchie Architects. Critics referred to it as, " ...a brave and uncompromising beacon, re-affirming the status of O'Connell Street as Ireland's principal urban thoroughfare... It will in effect reinvent the cultural dimension of the urban space of O'Connell Street." Locals called it an eye sore and misspent public funds. The 400 foot Spire cost $4.5 million, twice the initial estimate.

The Spire is a modern replacement for Nelson's Pillar, a 134-ft.-high stone edifice erected in 1808 that, unfortunately, was blown up by the IRA around the time of the fiftieth anniversary of the Easter Rising in 1966.