They say a true Dub never climbed to the top of the pillar, if true then I am a culchie, tho' born in Dublin. I was sorry to see it go. O'Connell Street deteriorated after 'the 8th day of March'.
Interesting letter recently in The Irish Times:

Nelson's Pillar – a 'public nuisance'?
Sat, Mar 12, 2016, 01:08
Sir, – On this the 50th anniversary of the destruction of Nelson's Pillar, it is worth recalling that 75 years earlier, in 1891, it was under threat of removal from where the Spire now stands. A private member's Bill, promoted by my grand-uncle Adam and a fellow trader in Upper O'Connell Street, publisher Henry Gill, was passed in the House of Commons to have it moved to another site on the street. They considered it a hindrance to the development of retail trade on the upper end of the street.
The Bill was carried by a majority of five, the fifth being Charles Stewart Parnell, who strolled in as the bell rang, knowing nothing of what was going on, and voted in favour!
Tim Healy MP contributed to the debate: "Monuments in a public street are a public nuisance, and I should be prepared to support a Bill not only for the removal of this monument but also for those to O'Connell, Father Mathew and Sir John Gray. If it is desirable to commemorate the memory of the great dead, the statues ought to be placed somewhere where they will not be in the way of the living". – Yours, etc,

ALEX FINDLATER,
Cong,
Co Mayo.