A 20-year rule on naming public spaces after individuals of note needs to be reviewed according to a Dublin councillor who claims that that former Lord Mayor Seán "Dublin Bay" Rockall Loftus and Boyzone singer Stephen Gately should be given the opportunity to be honoured in their local areas.
Independent Councillor Damien O'Farrell has put forward a motion to Dublin City Council asking for a revision of the 20-year rule for naming public spaces such as parks after individuals.
Cllr O'Farrell maintains we are creating "gaps in the social history" of the capital city given the length of the naming process.
"We have to wait twenty years to re name a park or road after a person who has made a significant contribution to our city.
This is known as the Jimmy Saville rule as (the now disgraced broadcaster) Jimmy Saville died in 2011 and in 2012 then Dublin introduced this rule because thousands of places were named after Saville in the UK.There was an enormous process then to rename places."
Mr O'Farrell told Newstalk Breakfast that he realised that 20 years was too lengthy a period when he spoke to a young environmentalist who failed to recognise the name Seán "Dublin Bay" Rockall Loftus.
"I was out on a cleanup a few weeks ago in the Clontarf/Marino area, and I was speaking to an environmentalist.
"She was probably in her early 30s. And she had never heard of Seán 'Dublin Bay' Loftus. And he is probably recognised and widely acknowledged as Ireland's first environmentally conscious politician.
"That is when I started thinking about it. We have 20-year gaps within our social history.We could forget to recognise people.
You mention there Stephen Gately. He died in 2009. There was a move to rename a park after him years ago. But he came under the twenty year rules and that couldn't happen."
Cllr O'Farrell says that the council should consider reducing the waiting period to ten years.
Review
"That is adequate. But I would like to hear what other councillors have to say. And I certainly think that should be a register.
Some people would be very famous. Stephen Gately would be one of those people. But Seán 'Dublin Bay' Loftus. Dublin Bay wouldn't be a protected bio sphere only for the likes of him.
"He is not as famous as some of the other people. He didn't exist in a time of social media and mass publicity. I am just calling for a review to discuss it. "
Seán "Dublin Bay" Rockall Loftus spent much of his political career fighting against an oil refinery in Dublin Bay. He also argued that Ireland should claim the oil reserves off Rockall. In successive election campaigns, he portrayed himself as an independent campaigner for the rights of the ordinary citizen.
The Dublin North East TD, who died in 2010, was best known for changing his name by deed poll in his campaigning against repeated attempts to develop the capital’s bay. He spearheaded battles against plans for an oil refinery, underground gas caverns and infills.He was also involved in the campaign against the controversial Wood Quay development in Dublin city centre in the 1970s.
Mr Loftus was an elected member of Dublin City Council for 25 years and served as an Independent TD for Dublin North East during the short-lived government between 1981 and 1982.
At that time he had changed his name to Sean Alderman Dublin Bay Rockall Loftus to highlight territorial claims to a rocky islet several hundred kilometres off the coast of Co Donegal. A law lecturer in Dublin Institute of Technology, he was also honorary legal adviser of the preservation organisation Dublin Bay Watch.
Boyzone singer Stephen Gately passed away in 2009 at the age of 33. Efforts have been made over the years to rename the six-hectare Royal Canal Linear Park which runs alongside Spencer Dock in the north inner city, after the singer.
