Eyebrows have been raised in architectural circles around town by the involvement of Sam Stephenson in the last minute legal challenge to the millennium spike in Dublin's O'Connell Street. Mr Stephenson, whose best known buildings include the Central Bank, the ESB in Fitzwilliam Street and phase one of the Civic Offices, did not himself enter the international design competition for the former Nelson Pillar site because he regarded it as the wrong location for a major monument. Instead, he put forward his own plan for a 60-storey lighthouse-style tower in the Dublin docklands.

In the High Court last Friday, Mr Stephenson said the 400-ft steel spike - designed by London architect Ian Ritchie - would affect buildings of artistic, architectural or historic interest on O'Connell Street, particularly the GPO. The corporation has already spent around £600,000 on the project and is worried that any undue delay at this stage would threaten the erection of the spire by the end of the year.