Dublin City Council latest in string of councils to fly Palestinian flag over council buildings

The decision to fly the Palestinian flag over Dublin City Hall for the next week has come as a surprise after a similar motion was tabled last month and was voted down.

The motion last month failed to pass as Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael councillors either rejected or abstained on the vote. Support from three-quarters of those present would have been required for the motion to pass.

The Israeli Ambassador Dana Erlich wrote at the time: "We know that this conflict touches many people in Ireland but we would respectfully ask you, as the chief executive and Council members of this multicultural capital's city council, to consider the many Israeli citizens of all faiths, the Jewish community here in Ireland and the community supporting Israel that lives, works and contributes in this city, with regard to the symbolism that a Palestinian flag flying on City Hall has".

A second motion was tabled this week by the Independent Group, Sinn Féin, Social Democrats, People Before Profit and a number of individual councillors and passed on Monday night.

The flag will be flown for seven days, from Tuesday the 5th of December till the following Tuesday, the 12th.

Palestine flag in Dublin City Hall. Copyright Miguel Ruiz.

Dublin is the latest in a series of city and county councils across the country who have passed motions to fly Palestinian flags as an act of solidarity in light of recent events in Gaza.

Notably and close to home, Dún Laoghaire- Rathdown County Council flew the Palestinian flag last week, on the 29th of November to mark the UN's 'International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People'. The county council shared this announcement on Elon Musk's social media platform X.

We are flying the national Palestinian flag outside County Hall, Dún Laoghaire, to mark today being the United Nations’ International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People pic.twitter.com/kN28sfscN1

— Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council (@dlrcc) November 29, 2023

Next up, the rebel city lived up to its name and lit up Cork City Hall in the colours of the Palestinian Flag, also on November 29th, The UN day of International Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

Cork City Council lit up in the colours of the Palestinian Flag, November 29th 2023. Photo: Kneecap on Twitter

Kneecap, Belfast hip-hop duo and staunch supporters of Palestine shared the photo in a post on X, which was viewed over 100 thousand times and captioned "Free Palestine".

The Cork City Council also shared their own post on the social media platform and issued a statement on the issue saying that the council had flown the flag in previous years on November 29th and said it would be "inappropriate" not to continue doing so.

The statement released by the council read: "Cork City Council acknowledges the complexity of this recent crisis and considers that it would be inappropriate not to continue flying the flag on the United Nations International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, at this time of great suffering".

The council also echoed the government's call for humanitarian ceasefire saying: "It is clear that there can be no military solution to this crisis".

However, not all county councils that tabled motions to fly the flag agreed to pass such motions, with Meath County Council, Kerry County Council and Waterford County Council all voting down motions to fly the Palestinian flag this year.

Notably, Waterford County Council has flown a Palestinian flag on November 29th in years previous, while Tralee, where Kerry County Council sits, is twinned with Beit Sahour, a Palestinian flag east of Bethlehem.

There was a promise of Donegal County Council to fly the Palestinian Flag in solidarity on November 29th and also draw up a flag policy.

While pictures of Derry circulated on X show its historic city walls in the colours of Palestine's national flag in October of this year.

Derry City Walls Lit up in Solidarity with Palestine October 2023