Proposal to change name of Orwell Road to Independent Ukraine Road to be dropped

Proposals to rename Orwell Road in Dublin as Independent Ukraine Road look set to be dropped, with Dublin city councillors reversing plans to pursue the name change.

Changing the name of the road, where the Russian embassy is located, was unanimously supported by a sub-committee of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council last week.

All 20 councillors at the council's Dundrum area monthly meeting agreed to start the process of renaming the road and begin engagement with Orwell Road residents on the change, as a gesture of solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

Orwell Road stretches from Rathgar, Dublin 6 to Churchtown, Dublin 14, straddling both Dublin City and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown local authority areas. The Russian embassy is located in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown side.

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The city council’s southeast area committee was expected to consider the renaming proposal on Monday, but the motion has been dropped.

Labour councillor Dermot Lacey who chairs the committee had initially put forward a motion to change the name to Volodymyr Zelenskiy Road, and later amended it to match the Dún Laoghaire motion. However, he said, he would not be tabling either motion.

“I am not going to proceed with it. Following email conversations with other councillors it was clear there wouldn’t be sufficient support for it. I wouldn’t table a motion like that unless I felt there was broad support, because it would be inappropriate for it to be divisive.”

Residents

It had emerged in recent days that large numbers of Orwell Road residents did not want the name change, he said.

“To have a plebiscite of residents on it and for it to be rejected would be a real slap in the face.”

Fine Gael councillor Paddy McCartan said he would not have supported the motion.

“I have taken the views of a large number of residents and not one was in favour of it.” He said residents’ concerns were largely related to practical matters such as maps and property deeds.

“It would have put the residents in an invidious position if they voted against it, as if that in some way meant they did not support Ukraine. Given the gravity of the situation, we shouldn’t do anything that might trivialise it.”

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Labour councillor Peter O’Brien, who proposed the original motion, said while there would still be consultation with residents, a plebiscite or vote on the name change was now likely to be dropped.

“I can’t see there being a situation where we would split the road and have a plebiscite for the Dún Laoghaire section only, so my reading of it is that it is unlikely to go ahead.”

Separately Cllr Lacey will table a motion at Dublin mid-Leinster Regional Health Forum on Tuesday for the disused Baggot Street Hospital to be opened to accommodate Ukrainian refugees.

The empty Victorian hospital, which closed in the 1980s, is in the Health Service Executive’s (HSE) portfolio of properties.

A spokeswoman for the HSE said accommodation for Ukrainian nationals was dealt with by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and the HSE would be providing Ukrainians with health services.