Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin opposed on Sunday the proposal in Dublin to rename a park that is named for Chaim Herzog, Israel’s sixth president.
“The proposal to rename Herzog Park should be withdrawn in its entirety and not proceeded with,” Martin said in a statement. “The proposal would erase the distinctive and rich contribution to Irish life of the Jewish community over many decades, including actual participation in the [1919-21] Irish War of Independence and the emerging State,” he added.
“The proposal is a denial of our history and will, without any doubt, be seen as antisemitic. It is overtly divisive and wrong. Our Irish Jewish community’s contribution to our country’s evolution in its many forms should always be cherished and generously acknowledged.”
On Saturday, Helen McEntee, Ireland’s minister of state at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, issued her own objections to the proposed name change.
Chaim Herzog, whose son is currently Israel’s president, was born in Belfast and grew up in Dublin, McEntee noted. Chaim Herzog’s father, Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, was chief rabbi of Ireland.
McEntee said in a statement she supported her government’s criticism of Israeli policies in Gaza and Judea and Samaria, but “to remove the name of an Irish Jewish man has nothing to do with this and has no place in our inclusive republic. In my view, this name change should not proceed, and I urge Dublin City councillors to vote against it.”
The Dublin City Council will convene on Monday to deliberate on the proposal to rename the park.
Two separate petitions called on the committee to adopt the names “Hind Rajab Park,” after a girl allegedly killed by the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza in 2024, and “Free Palestine Park.”
According to Irish outlet The Journal, Labour Party councilor Fiona Connelly made a motion in December 2024 regarding the name of the park, which was adopted by the city council’s South East Area Committee.
The decision has sparked international criticism.
“When you think it couldn’t get any worse in Ireland regarding animosity toward Israel and the Jewish people, it just did,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) posted to X on Sunday.
“I don’t know what the people of Dublin are trying to say, but this is what I hear: A complete turning upside down of history when it comes to the Jewish people and the state of Israel,” he continued.
“Modern Ireland is a beautiful country with great scenery, but unfortunately, it has become a cesspool of antisemitism,” Graham concluded.
When you think it couldn’t get any worse in Ireland regarding animosity toward Israel and the Jewish people, it just did.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) November 29, 2025
Apparently the Dublin City Council is going to rename a park that was dedicated to Chaim Herzog, who was raised in Dublin and became the 6th president of… https://t.co/jsYSNy5Flu
In December 2024, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar ordered the Israeli embassy in Dublin shuttered amid Ireland’s hostile stance toward the Jewish state.
In announcing the decision, Sa’ar cited the “extreme anti-Israel policy of the Irish government.”
“The antisemitic actions and rhetoric that Ireland is taking against Israel are based on delegitimization and demonization of the Jewish state and on double standards,” said Sa’ar.
“Ireland has crossed all red lines in its relationship with Israel. Israel will invest its resources in promoting bilateral relations with the countries of the world according to priorities that are also derived from the attitude of the various countries towards it,” the statement continued.
