A Dublin councillor is calling for Dublin City Council to review its 20-year-rule for naming public spaces after fresh calls for a Northside park be renamed after tragic Boyzone star Stephen Gately.
Cllr Damien O’Farrell told Dublin Live that he has put forward a motion to the Council for May or June asking them to revise its rule for naming public spaces and to create a waiting list for names.
Names that have been put forward include Gately, former Lord Mayor Sean “Dublin Bay” Loftus – who passed away in 2010 – and singer and actor Maureen Potter.
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Cllr O’Farrell said: “I think ten years is enough for a review,.
“I understand why the rule is there after what happened with Jimmy Saville in the UK where thousands of places were named after him and had to be changed.”
Cllr O’Farrell said he recently met a young environmental campaigner recently, who had never heard of Dublin Bay Loftus.
He said: “I feel like there is a chance of us losing some history.
“Dublin Bay would have been destroyed without Sean, and I think it’s a shame that people are forgetting these people.
“I’m looking for a waiting list to be created as there’s no waiting list at the moment, Stephen Gately would be a worthy candidate as well, and Maureen Potter.”
After Stephen’s death in 2009, members of the council’s Central Area Committee agreed to rename the linear park along the Royal Canal from Spencer Dock to North Strand in his honour.
However, the planned renaming of the park in Gately’s honour has now stalled after being referred to Dublin City Council’s commemorative naming committee.
A spokesperson told Dublin Live that the council first adopted its policy on commemorative naming in 2012, with a revised policy adopted by the council in June 2017.
The spokesperson said: “Regarding the ‘twenty-year rule’, since 2012 the Council’s policy has been that ‘Proposals to commemorate living persons will not be considered. Nominees will have to have died at least 20 years previously or have passed the centenary of their birth whichever is earlier’ (15.6)”
Cllr O’Farrell said that he is “very hopeful” that the council will consider the review for the commemorative naming process and to create the formal waiting list in the coming months.
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