Five Tipperary councillors seek policy change so park can be called after Clancy Brothers

A call by five councillors for Tipperary County Council’s Civic Memorials Policy to be amended to allow a Carrick-on-Suir park be named after the town’s famous Clancy Brothers, has been deferred to the New Year for further consideration. 

Carrick Municipal District’s five councillors have mounted a campaign to change the policy, which has become an obstacle to their efforts to rename Carrick’s Town Park as Clancy Park. The policy prohibits the naming of public parks, fire stations, libraries and utility facilities in the county after people.

Cllr Kieran Bourke, Cathaoirleach of Carrick MD, received unanimous support for his motion to rename Carrick’s Town Park as Clancy Park in memory of the town’s most famous sons at the September meeting of the district’s councillors.

The proposal was a week later extensively discussed on RTE Radio 1’s Joe Duffy Liveline Show where the songs of the Clancy Brothers were celebrated and several well known musicians and singers such as Charlie McGettigan voiced their support for naming the park after the ballad group.

At Tipperary County Council’s meeting in Nenagh on Monday, a motion in the names of Carrick MD councillors Kieran Bourke, David Dunne, Imelda Goldsboro, Kevin O’Meara and Mark Fitzgerald, called on the council to amend Section 7 of the Civic Memorials Policy to allow the renaming of the historic park next to Carrick Garda Station.

In its written response, the Council said the current policy was adopted at a full council meeting in May 2019 and was reviewed again after a motion was tabled in December 2021 seeking an amendment to allow the naming of parks, fire stations, libraries and bridges after individuals.

The Council said the policy was referred back the Community, Culture and Library Strategic Policy Committee, which considered the proposed amendment at length.

The Council said the SPC decided the Civic Memorial Policy has only been in operation since May 2019. It considered the policy has worked well to date and has simplified the process relating to memorials.

“lt would be premature to amend the policy at this point. The current policy should remain in place,” the council added.

Carrick Municipal District Director of Services Brian Beck, who is also Director of Community, Culture and Library Services, reiterated this response at the council meeting. He said the current policy was “robust and working well”.
Carrick Cllr David Dunne, proposed the motion in the absence of Cllr Bourke who was away. He made a passionate case for the policy to the changed,
“I feel very strongly about this; that is why I have travelled today (from Carrick to Nenagh). It’s not only the councillors want this, it's the people of Carrick-on-Suir and it's local democracy in action.”

He argued that naming the park after the Clancy Brothers will be of huge benefit to his hometown. Referring to the tributes paid to the late Shane MacGowan at the start of the meeting, Cllr Dunne pointed out that the Clancy Brothers were his forerunners in keeping traditional Irish music and songs alive.

He said the Clancy Brothers have a direct association with the park, referring to the fact their father was once its caretaker and lived in a cottage in the park.

Cllr Dunne also stressed there was national and international support for naming this park after the Clancy Brothers and noted that other parks in the county were named after people. Mulcahy and Denis Burke Parks in Clonmel were two examples he cited.

He said the council’s response “didn’t cut mustard”. He declared he was going to have to push for a vote and asked for the support of the council’s other elected members.

Mr Beck cautioned that that this was not just a Carrick-on-Suir district issue. The Civic Memorials Policy was for the whole county. He pointed out the policy allows for the naming of buildings and suggested there would be no problem with erecting a plaque in the park to commemorate the Clancy Brothers.

Clonmel WUAG Cllr Pat English and Newcastle Independent Cllr Máirin McGrath spoke in favour of the motion. Cllr McGrath said she didn’t know what powers councillors had if they couldn’t name a park to recognise the Clancy Brothers.

But Roscrea Cllr Michael Smith argued this issue shouldn’t be put to a vote and urged for a decision to be deferred to January.

“We should exhaust all possibilities whether that is a plaque or something more than a plaque or to tweak the policy. I don’t think we should go down this road,” he said referring to a vote.

Clonmel Cllr Siobhán Ambrose supported this stance. She understood why the policy was in place and she believed it had merit. She was on the council a long time and had seen how different names were put forward for the naming of places and noted it can be difficult at council meetings to say a proposal was inappropriate.

She proposed it would be best to send the motion back to the Community Culture & Library Services SPC to consider the issue again.

Cllr Ambrose acknowledged the Clancy Brothers were synonymous with Carrick-on-Suir and suggested the SPC could amend the policy but with tight controls surrounding it.

Carrick MD councillor Imelda Goldsboro agreed with deferring the matter as it looked like there wasn’t going to be sufficient support if the motion was put to a vote.

Fellow Carrick MD Cllr Kevin O’Meara also indicated he would be happy to send the motion to the SPC and have further discussions in January while Cllr Dunne agreed it would be better to have further discussion and reach a consensus. But he sought a guarantee from council officials that they would give their case a “fair hearing” and rather than engaging in a “kicking the can down the road exercise”.

Council CEO Joe MacGrath gave that assurance. He said putting the motion to a vote would be divisive and not reflect what the council wanted to do. He agreed with referring the motion back to the SPC and proposed the council then discuss the issue in private at a workshop scheduled for February 1.

If a consensus was reached, the matter would be brought back to the council’s plenary meeting in February for decision.

It was agreed to take these steps and it was decided to defer the motion tabled by the Carrick MD councillors to the New Year.