Time to rename Herzog Park, and name a park after Terence Wheelock, councillors decide

Herzog Park in Rathgar should be renamed, councillors agreed.

During a meeting of the council’s Commemorations and Naming Committee on 24 July, councillors largely voted in support of removing the park’s current name, minutes from the committee meeting show.

The Rathgar park is named after Chaim Herzog, the sixth president of Israel, and who was born and raised in Ireland.

Originally named Orwell Quarry Park, it was renamed Herzog Park in 1995 to mark the tri-millennium of Jerusalem, according to Dublin City Council’s website.

Back in July 2024, 1815 FC, a community football team, organised a protest, requesting that the council rename the park in memory of Hind Rajab, a five-year old girl who was killed by the Israeli Defence Forces that January.

But their campaign was hindered by the council’s 2017 commemorative naming policy, which states that an individual must be dead for at least 20 years before they can be commemorated.

Nor does it allow for city parks to be named in honour of individuals.

Although Herzog was still alive when the park was named in his honour, his passing in 1997 predates the council’s naming policy.

At the Commemorations and Naming committee on 24 July, councillors agreed that any renaming should undergo a consultation process, the minutes show.

But an online process wouldn’t be suitable, the minutes show.

Of the 11 councillors in attendance, there was one objection, according to those minutes, though they do not name the objector.

The committee, at that same meeting, also agreed to support a proposal to rename Diamond Park as Terrence Wheelock Park.

Social Democrats Councillor Daniel Ennis originally submitted the motion to the Central Area Committee on 9 July, calling for the park on Gardiner Street to be renamed.

Wheelock, in June 2005, was hospitalised in a critical condition after he was arrested and brought to Store Street Garda station.

The 20-year-old subsequently died, with An Garda Síochána concluding that this was a suicide. But his family never accepted the official version of events and have campaigned for an independent public inquiry.

Ennis’ motion was agreed by the area’s councillors and sent to the Commemorations and Naming Committee for consideration on 24 July.

Committee members at the July meeting discussed the naming procedure, minutes from the meeting show, as well as alternative commemorations like a memorial garden “dedicated to all victims who died in similar circumstances”.

The motion was agreed, and referred to the Special City Council meeting on Tuesday night.

According to the minutes, this was to fulfil the council’s 20-year policy.

Wheelock died on 16 September, 2005.

The motion however, was not raised at Tuesday night’s meeting.