Dublin Councillors renew efforts to rename Herzog Park

Dublin City councillors are pressing ahead with renewed efforts to rename both Herzog Park in Rathgar and Diamond Park near Gardiner Street. As stated by The Journal, the proposals were discussed at a meeting of the Commemorations and Naming Committee where councillors addressed the legislative obstacles delaying the changes.

The effort follows the council's chief executive dropping the Herzog Park proposal in December because the local authority lacked the necessary powers.

“Herzog was not just an Israeli President; he was centrally involved in the original ethnic cleansing of Palestine,” said Councillor Conor Reddy. “He joined the Haganah, a Zionist paramilitary force in the British Mandate period, and was later directly involved in military campaigns that forcibly emptied Palestinian towns and villages, including Latrun, where over 10,000 inhabitants were expelled and its villages razed. This was part of the wider Nakba, the catastrophic expulsions of 1948, when 750,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes. These facts aren’t controversial; they are well-documented history.”

A separate proposal to rename Diamond Park in memory of Terence Wheelock, who died in Garda custody, was also abandoned late last year due to "technical reasons."

At at a recent meeting, councillors agreed to write to Minister for Local Housing, Government and Heritage, James Browne, to seek greater authority for the council on park renaming. The motion to rename was deferred pending this correspondence.

The core issue, according to councillors, is the lack of specific detail in existing legislation on how public ballots should be conducted. Labour Party Councillor Dermot Lacey noted the current law is vague on whether votes should be held in person, and whether a vote is allocated per household or per individual.