Ireland Cancels Plan to Rename Herzog Park, Citing ‘Administrative Oversight’ By The Media Line Staff Ireland has decided not to rename Dublin’s Herzog Park, citing a “legislative technicality” and an “administrative oversight.” On Sunday, Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Micheál Martin said the motion would be “withdrawn in its entirety and not proceeded with.” The park […]
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The Media Line: Ireland Cancels Plan to Rename Herzog Park, Citing ‘Administrative Oversight’
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Ireland Cancels Plan to Rename Herzog Park, Citing ‘Administrative Oversight’
By The Media Line Staff
Ireland has decided not to rename Dublin’s Herzog Park, citing a “legislative technicality” and an “administrative oversight.”
On Sunday, Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Micheál Martin said the motion would be “withdrawn in its entirety and not proceeded with.”
The park was named for Chaim Herzog, the Dublin-raised president of Israel, who was the son of Isaac HaLevi Herzog, the first chief rabbi of Ireland and the father of the current president of Israel, Isaac Herzog.
The decision was greeted with outrage by the office of Israel’s president, which said it was “shameful and disgraceful.”
The statement continued that the move would harm “the unique expression of the historical connection between the Irish and Jewish peoples.”
“Beyond being an Israeli leader, Chaim Herzog was also a hero of the campaign to liberate Europe from the Nazis and a figure who dedicated his life to establishing the values of freedom, tolerance, the pursuit of peace, and the fight against antisemitism,” the statement added.
Amichai Chikli, Minister for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, recounted Chaim Herzog’s record as a Jewish Irish citizen who fought at Normandy, visited the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, identified the body of Nazi official Heinrich Himmler, and interrogated Nazi prisoners.
Describing the decision to rename the park, he wrote, “Before it is an insult to Israel, before it is a wound to the Jewish people, it is a betrayal of Ireland and of every Irishman and woman who ever stood against tyranny. A moral collapse.”
Since 2023, Ireland has advanced several anti-Israel initiatives, including a parliamentary motion accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza and renewed efforts to pass the Occupied Territories Bill, which would ban imports from Israeli settlements. Lawmakers have also pushed broader sanctions proposals targeting Israeli trade, reflecting a sharp escalation in Dublin’s hostility toward the Jewish state.
The reason cited for the cancellation of the motion isn’t pressure from Israel or Jewish groups, but an administrative error that the vote occurred in the first place.
In July, the Commemorations and Naming Committee recommended renaming Herzog Park in Dublin to Diamond Park, with only one objection.
However, since then, Dublin City Council Chief Executive Richard Shakespeare said the renaming would not take place because of “administrative oversight.”
According to Ireland’s public broadcaster RTÉ, Shakespeare said in a statement that placename changes fall under Part 8 of the Local Government Act 2001. He noted that the process requires elected officials to pass a resolution proposing the new name, followed by a public consultation and, if the proposal moves forward, a secret ballot of eligible voters.