Sinn Féin has said Government dithering is stopping Dublin City Council renaming streets after Irish rebel heroes like James Connolly. 

With many of Ireland’s streets dating back generations before independence, a great many of them are named after British aristocrats or military figures. 

While a minority were renamed after the establishment of the Free State, Sinn Féin wants the process to continue. 

“Dublin is a living, breathing city and there's precedent for changing the names of streets,” Ballyfermot Councillor Daithí Doolan told Newstalk Breakfast.  

“I mean, O'Connell Street wasn't always O'Connell Street, Pearse Street wasn't always Pearse Street. 

“So, we constantly reach junctures in our history and development of the city whereby we rename and reclaim our streets. 

“But we've hit an unfortunate juncture with central Government.”

'Currently on the Minister's desk'

In Cork, Councillors have voted to change the name of Anglesey Street to honour Terence MacSwiney. 

The former Lord Mayor of Cork was arrested by the British on charges of sedition during the War of Independence and died on hunger strike while in prison. 

However, Cork City Council currently lacks the powers to rename streets. 

“We have the ridiculous situation under central Government legislation whereby we can name parks and streets, but we can't rename them,” Cllr Doolan said. 

“That legislation is currently on the Minister's desk and we've asked him a number of times to please enact it and allow local authorities to get on with running our cities and renaming our streets when and where appropriate.”

The remains of Alderman Terence MacSwiney. Picture by: Alamy.com. 

Cllr Doolan described this as “indicative” of central Government’s views of local authorities. 

“We have a very weak local authority system, the weakest in all of Europe in the State,” he said. 

“In its time, we reclaimed it and we were given the powers that other local authorities around the world use every day.” 

If the legislation is enacted, Cllr Doolan believes it would give the City Council the opportunity to rename streets after historical figures that played a key role in the country’s revolutionary history. 

“We have the situation where we have Beresford Place, where Liberty Hall is, where the Irish Citizen's Army marched proudly from in 1916,” he said. 

“Beresford carried out crimes against humanity, he was known for his brutal put down of Irish rebels. 

“I think it would be far more appropriate to have that part of our city named after James Connolly.” 

Main image: Panorama of Dublin. Picture by: Alamy.com.