A cluster of electric cabling boxes for the Luas at Dublin's College Green is being likened to a mini Stonehenge.
Dublin City Council is being criticised for not putting them underground.
A group of five metal boxes housing electric cabling have been installed at College Green near Trinity College in the city centre.
They are needed for the Cross-City Luas line, but do not appear in plans for a civic plaza submitted to planners in May.
The Dublin Civic Trust says they should be underground.
Bike parking replaced by Luas boxes on College Green #uglydublin #jointthinking pic.twitter.com/uUaf7CwirV
— Rothar (@CafeRothar) August 1, 2017
"To have these military ranks of steel boxes on the main arterial historic streets of the city is appalling," Graham Hickey of the Civic Trust told the Irish Times.
"A design solution had to be found to the problem.
"In the 19th-century, the Victorians used to design decorative solutions to conceal functional items. It's astonishing that we now have to put up with something like a collection of milk cartons dumped in the street."
Tourists examining Luas Cabinets in College Green. "They're not in the guide-book" https://t.co/lC4tML6mHH pic.twitter.com/nXF8nR4BBu
— Ciarán Cuffe (@CiaranCuffe) August 2, 2017
In response, Dublin City Council says: "The recently installed utility cabinets are required infrastructure and contain various items of essential transmission and other equipment and cabling, such as electricity supply, traffic control equipment, a Luas Automatic Vehicle Locator System, fibre optic and CCTV cabling.
"With the installation of the recently installed cabinets, two of the older cabinets, will become redundant and are scheduled for removal over the coming months.
"As part of the detailed design work for the new College Green Civic Space, the design team will explore the feasibility of alternative methods of accommodating/relocating the remaining utility cabinets."
Additional reporting: Jack Quann
