INDEPENDENT COUNCILLORS WHO had brought a motion about changing the name of Herzog Park in Dublin have hit out at what they called the Taoiseach’s “interference” in the debate, as they reaffirmed their intent to proceed with the renaming at some point in the future.
They described Micheál Martin’s intervention against the plan to remove the name of the Irish-born Chaim Herzog from the park as a “chilling form of political intimidation and an abuse of power” over local councillors.
And they have sought an independent report on Micheál Martin’s intervention against the plan to change the park’s name, which they say will, “when appropriate”, proceed at a later date.
Herzog served as the sixth president of Israel, but a plan to remove his name from a park in Rathgar drew intense criticism from Israel and around the world in recent days.
Last July, a Council committee voted overwhelmingly to remove Herzog’s name, but a statement yesterday from Dublin City Council chief executive Richard Shakespeare confirmed that he was proposing that the report be withdrawn.
However, the councillors behind the original motion are now bringing an emergency notion before the Dublin monthly city council meeting this evening to “categorically condemn” the Taoiseach’s public statement demanding the withdrawal of the park name change proposal.
Independent group leader councillor Cieran Perry said they’re viewing the Taoiseach’s actions as a “direct and unacceptable breach” of the independence meant to be accorded to council members over the changing of names in their locality.
“The Taoiseach’s intervention is a serious and alarming overreach,” Perry said.
“Local authorities are explicitly established as independent corporate bodies, and placename changes are a reserved function for the elected members of the Council.
We cannot and will not allow the head of government to dictate the outcome of a legitimate, democratic debate on this internal matter.
The original motion had been condemned by Israelis and members of the Jewish community in Ireland as antisemitic.
In the councillors’ statement today, Perry said this evening’s emergency motion “rejects the inherent suggestion that any Councillor supporting the motion is in any way motivated by or promoting antisemitism”.
Fellow Independent councillor and former lord mayor Nial Ring said the motivation behind the removal of Herzog’s name was as an “act of political solidarity” following Israel’s war in Gaza.
Ring said that to “conflate our political stance with any suggestion of antisemitism is a cynical attempt to shut down the democratic debate as well as slander our reputations” in the process.
“To have this come from the Taoiseach of our country is, in our opinion, a betrayal of democratic principles, a chilling form of political intimidation and an abuse of power that demands immediate public repudiation,”, fellow Independent Councillor Nial Ring said.
“The Taoiseach’s behaviour is an exact replica of the cynical tactics usually employed by the Israeli Government whenever it seeks to silence any form of criticism” he added.
