The Lord Mayor of Dublin Naoise Ó Mhurí, artist Alan Phelan and children from fourth, fifth and sixth class at St Francis of Assisi National School in Belmayne gathered on a freezing morning in Fr Collins Park in early December for the official naming of Phelan’s ‘Inverted Oil Rig’ sculpture. The work, which sits in the park’s lake, boasts alternative names devised by the students from St Francis of Assisi, which the children came up with at a special workshop facilitated by Phelan – so the piece now is also known as ‘Dobby Fin Millen Drill (Nightmare on Duck Street)’, in the great tradition of Dubliners coining nicknames for the city’s public art works.

The Lord Mayor was a terrific hit with the children, congratulating them on their creativity and even allowing them a chance to quiz him about the job of Lord Mayor, his famous chain and what it’s like to live in the mansion house.