The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Ray McAdam, formally apologized to the city’s Jewish community for any hurt caused by the proposed renaming of Herzog Park.
During Monday’s monthly council meeting, viewed by The Jerusalem Post, McAdam said, “I wish to acknowledge the concern and upset caused to members of Dublin’s Jewish community, to local residents of Rathgar, and to the wider public arising from the flawed process and administrative failures surrounding the proposed renaming of Herzog Park.”
“It is right that an apology is clearly extended here to the Jewish community of Dublin and to all those affected by this controversy,” he added.
The incident in question took place at the end of November 2025, when Dublin City Council announced it had decided to remove the name of Chaim Herzog, the sixth president of the State of Israel, from a park in the Rathgar neighborhood.
Pro-Palestine groups lobbied to rename the park either “Hind Rajab Park” or “Free Palestine Park.”
Park renaming withdrawn due to administrative issues
A few days later, following pressure from the Irish prime minister, deputy prime minister, and foreign officials, Dublin City Council announced it was withdrawing the plan to rename the park due to “insufficient information contained in the report to allow councilors to make an ‘informed decision’” and other administrative issues.
The elected representatives were also told that the proposal was not legally sound because national legislation allowing the renaming of place names had not been fully commenced.
McAdam’s apology on Monday was directed at the Jewish community for the first time. Previously, the city council administration and executive had apologized to elected representatives for the administrative errors and failures, but not to the Jewish community and the people of Dublin.
Former Irish justice and defense minister Alan Shatter said, “Took over four months, but apology still welcome.”