Cork County Councillors have hit out at a motion that will see the City Council consider whether Bishop Lucey Park should be renamed.
The Park, sometimes referred to as “People’s Park,” located between Grand Parade and South Main Street in Cork city centre, is named after Bishop Con Lucey, who set up the St Anne’s Adoption Society in the 1954, and started the Cork diocesan mission to Peru in the mid-1960s.
Bishop Lucey, who became Bishop of Cork in 1952, died in 1982 and the park was named in his honour when it opened in 1985 as part of the Cork 800 celebrations.
Cllr Ted Tynan of the Workers Party moved the motion in question, with Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats, Labour, the Green Party and People Before Profit all supporting his views in the Chamber this week. The motion calls for the park to be renamed to honour the women and girls of Cork, with Mr Tynan claiming earlier this year that much of the documented clerical, sexual, physical or psychological abuse occurred during Bishop Lucey’s time – both as a serving priest and as bishop of the Diocese of Cork and Ross (1952-1980).
The Section 140 motion was approved by a vote of 17-11 on Monday night to approve a Section 140 motion submitted by Worker’s Party Cllr Ted Tynan, Green Party Cllr Oliver Moran, and Social Democrats Cllr Niamh O’Connor, calling for the renaming process.
‘WHERE WILL IT END?’
However, a number of councillors have publicly objected to the move, including Fianna Fáil Cllr Terry Shannon and Independent Councillor Albert Deasy.
Speaking this week, Cllr Shannon described the passing of the motion as “this headlong rush to change for what many people are the old certainties”.
“There is an attempt now to rewrite history in this country,” he said.
“We see a lot of the old certainties now for an awful lot of people being shoved to one side. This country is becoming a cold place for Christians and Catholics,” the Cllr said, asking: “Will we take Fr Mathew down off his statue? Will we rename St Patrick’s St, Pope’s Quay? Where will it end?”
Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast on Wednesday, Mr Shannon asked: “Why are all the old certainties done away?”
“We have accepted this new dispensation in Ireland where there’s a new kind of ‘woke society’ for want of a better word.
“And where we’re expected to accept what the liberal or radical left expects of us? These people, they talk about inclusivity and tolerance, but that doesn’t extend them to traditional Irish cultures,” he said.
Cllr Albert Deasy, who voted against the motion, speaking to Gript on Thursday, said that the late Catholic Bishop was a man “who appears to have lived a good life and who devoted himself to the service of others.”
“People here think it acceptable to take his good name and character, and the good name and character of his family, all because of the evil deeds carried out by others,” the Cllr said.
“We have a tradition in this country of not speaking ill of the dead, and Bishop Lucey contributed enormously to the cultural and social wellbeing of the city. I met a priest recently, Fr John Allen, who told me that Bishop Lucey was dedicated to the people of Cork, never missed a Christmas Day serving Penny Dinners, and when he retired he served many years in Kenya where he worked under Fr. James Good, a man who he had fallen out with because he publicly opposed Humanae Vita (contraception).
“Lucey built five magnificent churches in Cork City, called the Rosary Churches, and is credited with promoting the Credit Union Movement in order to scupper the activities of money lenders who were a huge scourge on poor people. Plus, of course, he set up the St. Anne’s Adoption Society, which was, despite current day criticism, very well intentioned, and designed to save souls.
“Politicians didn’t like him because he was very direct, outspoken and fearless.”
The Councillor for Cork City South West said that some of the contributions made in the chamber reminded him of “the Post-mortem Show Trials that took place in communist or socialist Countries in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
“These were trials concerning people who, while alive, held unacceptable world views or opinions. Their remains were exhumed, and their graves desecrated.”
“Welcome to Cork. Many people in this Chamber associate themselves with political ideologies that, in the past, have caused death, destruction and mayhem on an immense scale, not just here in Ireland but throughout the world.
“It would be unthinkable for me to tarnish their good names and reputations all because the belief system they pursue did harm to others.”
The Cllr said that attention should be on “the evil” that exists in Irish society today, referring to human trafficking. A September 2024 report into exploitation warned that Cork is a hotspot for tex traded trafficking, while a new centre formally launched in Cork and Kerry this month claimed it has already dealt with 80 alleged victims of sexual exploitation and human trafficking in the region. Many of the women are based in direct provision centres in Cork and Kerry, according to a report in the Examiner this week.
“My question to those who convict Bishop Lucey for his alleged failures is:
What did you yourself do about exposing that evil? If you plead that you were too young, then I say to you that the retrospectoscope is the single most useless diagnostic tool known to man,” Cllr Deasy said.
“The contemporary acid test is to ask you what you are doing about the evil that is staring you straight in the face today, ie, the abuse of women and young girls trafficked and used throughout this City as sex slaves in brothels and massage parlours?
“What are those who criticize the late Bishop doing about protecting women and young girls from the risks associated with allowing biological males to colonize women’s sports and women’s spaces? The answer is you encourage it and you label those who seek to defend women and children as ‘haters’ etc.”
The Cllr, who previously told Gript that ordinary people are tired of being described as “transphobic and homophobic” and “shouted down” for raising concerns around transgender issues and identity politics, said that the renaming of the park to celebrate women and girls was “farcical” given the support of some of the same representatives for the removal of the word ‘woman’ from the Constitution last year.
“Finally, the proposal to change the name of Bishop Lucey Park to Páirc na mBan Chorcaí as a translation for Corkwomen’s Park. This is not only grammatically incorrect – but it is absurd and farcical given that some of those in support of the idea of renaming Bishop Lucy Park out of respect for women, were the very same people who last year campaigned for the removal of the word woman and mother from the constitution, claiming it to be sexist and at the same time, couldn’t even offer a definition of what is a woman,’” he said.