Ta Smithfield beo aris. Smithfield abu.
With these words, architect Siobhan Ni Eanaigh of architects McGarry Ni Eanaigh proclaimed the revitalisation of Smithfield in Dublin.
A total of £3.5 million has been spent by Dublin Corporation and the EU on the regeneration of Smithfield, which, in future, will host civic events, such as the conferring of the Freedom of the City and the start of the St Patrick's Day parade.
The most immediately impressive sign of the revitalisation is the dozen 26m-high gas lighting masts, each with a 2m flame, which flank one side of the plaza and, Dublin Corporation promises us, will be visible all over the city.
The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor Mary Freehill, pressed a button on a remote control to light up the gas flares. The electric lights went out and the flares lit up to the applause of the hundreds of people gathered there.
Do not expect to be toasting your toes at the braziers whenever you turn up at Smithfield, by the way - with a gas bill of £150 an hour, they're likely to be lit for special occasions only. But the electric lighting works beautifully. Smithfield has another good thing about it, in that it is a living place. On one side, it is flanked by the fruit and vegetable markets (looking a bit down-at-heel but to be redeveloped) and on another by houses, apartments, a hotel, Irish Distillers and the Children's Court.
As Ms Freehill told us, it has been a cattle and horse-trading market since 1664 (its name in Irish is Margadh na Feirme, the Farm Market) and a fruit and vegetable market since 1913.
Smithfield is mentioned in James Joyce's Ulysses: in 1893 and 1894, Joyce tells us, Leopold Bloom worked for Joseph Cuffe of 5 Smithfield, a superintendent of sales in the Dublin cattle market.
In January, the construction of a Luas line begins at the south end of the "plaza", as we must now call it.
In March, the Freedom of the City will be conferred on the Burmese activist, Aung San Suu Kyi, and on U2 and Paul McGuinness in Smithfield.
The next big project is the rebuilding of North King Street. Once Dublin's most elegant street, the rebuilding is expected to start in the first half of next year.