The potential for international criticism and reputational damage arising from the “denaming” of Herzog Park in Rathgar should have been identified before the proposal was put to Dublin City councillors last December, a council-commissioned report has found.
However, the report by retired city council executive manager Vincent Norton said both councillors and the council executive had been “failed” by “governance frameworks”, resulting in a name change proposal the council could not legally implement.
The south Dublin park was named in 1995 to honour Belfast-born Chaim Herzog, Israel’s president from 1983 to 1993, who spent his early childhood in Dublin.
A proposal to remove the Herzog name was to be voted on by the council last December, but was dropped amid international attention and accusations of anti-Semitism.
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Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the “proposal is a denial of our history and will without any doubt be seen as anti-Semitic”. Tánaiste Simon Harris, the office of the Israeli president and Irish Chief Rabbi Yoni Wieder also criticised the proposal.
Council chief executive Richard Shakespeare was contacted by the secretary general of the Department of Housing and Local Government, querying whether the proposal was “legally sound”. It emerged that regulations required under 2011 legislation for placename changes had yet to be provided by the department.
Norton’s report, to be presented to councillors on Thursday, said: “While this report identifies the main reason for failure to advance these proposals as being due to the required regulations not yet having been made, there were governance issues at Executive level that did not identify at an early stage ... the lack of regulations to advance the proposals.
“The possibility that changing an established park name with strong community significance and sensitivity that might give rise to local, national and indeed international criticism and expose the Council to reputational damage warranted greater in-depth deliberation at an earlier stage in the process.”
The episode had caused “deep division in the local community and reputational damage to the Council”, the report said.
Independent councillor Mannix Flynn said the report was “insulting” to councillors.
“It fails to identify who was responsible for councillors not getting correct legal advice that led to this massive reputational damage. It does not exonerate councillors from the scurrilous accusation of anti-Semitism, and it does not acknowledge the serious hurt of the Jewish community.”
Last June, a group of councillors initiated judicial review proceedings against the State seeking an order requiring the department to introduce the regulations. People Before Profit councillor Conor Reddy said the Government was interfering with the council’s discharging of its democratic function.
In a statement, the department said issues had arisen in relation to the “Official Languages legislation” in relation to placenames which were in the process of resolution.
