Madam, – I was deeply disappointed to hear of the decision of the councillors representing Dublin South East to recommend to the Dublin City Council that Archbishop Ryan Park be renamed Merrion Square Park rather than Oscar Wilde Gardens (Home News, May 11th).
There was an extensive consultation process with 567 submissions (Home News, May 7th) received by the City Council, with 219 in favour of renaming the park Oscar Wilde Gardens and only 45 in favour of calling it Merrion Square.
The park itself is the site of the only public memorial to Oscar Wilde and there is no public amenity in the city named after him. This represents an opportunity to change this. I have heard it said that since the park is commonly referred to as Merrion Square, so why not make the name official? The problem is that names matter, and symbolism matters. After all, this is why the name of the park is being changed in the first place. The councillors, in overturning the clear response of the consultation process, are making a statement: That 110 years after his death Dublin should still be ashamed of one of its most gifted sons. – Yours, etc,