Orwell Road name change proposal called ‘Orwellian’ as residents not consulted

Orwell Road resident Dr Ronan Collins has described a proposal to change the name of the road to Independent Ukraine Road as "kind of Orwellian" as residents had not been consulted in advance.

That was the behaviour of an authoritarian system, he told RTÉ radio's Today with Claire Byrne show. The council had gone about the proposal in an "insulting way".

The proposal to change the name of the road was unanimously passed by a sub-committee of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council earlier this week.

The motion was proposed by Labour councillor Peter O'Brien who said he was inspired by the actions of countries such as Lithuania and Latvia which had renamed the streets that their Russian embassies are on in solidarity with Ukraine.

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It will now be put to public consultation with the residents having the final say in deciding whether or not there will be a name change.

Dr Collins said he and the residents unanimously stood in solidarity with the people of Ukraine, but they felt the council should have spoken to the residents first before proposing the name change.

Consulting

Orwell Road is a long road from Rathgar to Churchtown with half of it in the Dublin City Council local authority, but the section which includes the Russian embassy is in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown.

A Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown county council spokeswoman said it is now looking at ways of consulting with residents and carrying out a plebiscite locally.

There may be merit to the suggestion, said Dr Collins, but the way in which they had gone about it was unfortunate as it was “almost like public pressure” on the residents with the insinuation that if they did not agree then they did not stand with the people of Ukraine.

There were practicalities to a name change, he said.

Cllr Jim O’Leary defended the local authority saying that time had been of the essence. Somebody had to take the initiative, but he agreed that the residents should be consulted and if they thought the proposal was a bad idea they could oppose it. He acknowledged that they could come under community pressure.

It was important to send a clear message to the Russian State. The council had to move quickly, he added.

Dr Collins asked why the council had not passed a proposal calling for the expulsion of the Russian ambassador which he felt would have had more impact than renaming the road.