Dublin’s city council has withdrawn, for now, a proposal to change the name of Herzog Park, a public green in the Rathgar neighborhood named for former Israeli President Chaim Herzog, after facing criticism at home and abroad.
Lord Mayor Ray McAdam said the council’s chief executive intends to pull the motion that was due to go before the full council on Monday. McAdam said the legislation governing place-name changes has not yet been fully implemented and that the report presented to councillors did not provide enough information to allow for what he called an informed decision. A separate proposal to rename another site, Diamond Park, has also been canceled on the same grounds.
At the same time, McAdam said the council agreed to launch a public consultation to determine “a new and appropriate name” for the park, signaling that the debate is not over.
Herzog Park, opened in 1985 as Orwell Quarry Park and renamed in 1995 during Jerusalem’s 3,000-year celebrations, honors Chaim Herzog, Israel’s sixth president, who was born in Belfast and raised in Dublin. It also recognizes his father, Rabbi Yitzhak Isaac Halevi Herzog, who served as chief rabbi of Ireland and later became Israel’s first chief rabbi. The park sits near the only Jewish primary and secondary schools in Ireland.
The renaming proposal emerged from Dublin City Council’s Commemorations and Naming Committee, which in July voted to recommend removing Herzog’s name amid the Gaza war and claims of “genocide” by pro-Palestinian campaigners. Suggested alternatives included “Free Palestine Park” and “Hind Rajab Park,” after a Palestinian girl killed in Gaza in January 2024. The push sparked outrage in Ireland’s Jewish community and among pro-Israel voices.
The plan also drew rare public criticism from senior Irish officials, including Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Foreign Affairs Minister Helen McEntee, who warned the move was divisive and could be seen as antisemitic, and that it risked erasing the historic contribution of Irish Jews.
In Israel, President Isaac Herzog’s office said it was concerned by any attempt to harm his father’s legacy and the historic ties between Ireland and the Jewish people. Mike Herzog, a former Israeli ambassador to the United States and grandson of Chaim Herzog, said the move was not a private family matter but part of a broader effort to delegitimize Israel and undermine Irish Jewish heritage.
For now, the park’s name remains unchanged, but the council’s planned consultation suggests the issue could return to the agenda after further review.
Ireland’s Chief Rabbi Yoni Wieder issued a statement underscoring the park’s significance for the local Jewish community and the shared Irish-Jewish history it represents. “Herzog Park is more than a name on a sign. For the neighbouring Jewish families and schools, it is a place filled with memory, and a quiet reminder that our community has deep roots in Dublin,” he said.
Rabbi Wieder noted that Chaim Herzog, who later became president of Israel, “was shaped by this city, and he loved it in return,” recalling that Dubliners embraced him as “a local boy who rose to become a head of state and yet never lost his connection to Ireland.” Herzog was the only visiting head of state to speak fluent Irish during his return visit as president.
He also highlighted the legacy of Herzog’s father, Isaac Herzog, Ireland’s first chief rabbi and a close friend of Éamon de Valera, known affectionately as the “Sinn Féin Rabbi” for his support of Irish nationalism.
“When the park was named in honour of Chaim Herzog in 1995, it was a recognition not just of one man, but a chapter of shared Irish-Jewish history,” Rabbi Wieder said. “That history has not changed, and it cannot be undone by motions or votes. The Jewish story in Ireland deserves to be acknowledged, not quietly removed.”