‘Deep disappointment’ after proposal to rename park after Terence Wheelock also withdrawn

THE FAMILY OF Terence Wheelock have expressed “deep disappointment” that a proposal to rename a park after the 20-year-old has been withdrawn alongside a motion to rename Herzog Park.

In 2005, Terance was arrested by gardaí and detained at a cell in Store Street Garda Station on suspicion of involvement with a car theft.

Hours after his arrest in 2005, garda accounts said that Terence was found unconscious in his cell.

He subsequently slipped into a coma and was brought to the Mater Hospital, where he remained in a coma for over three months before his death. 

In 2007, a jury at a Coroner’s Court returned a verdict of suicide but Terence’s family has rejected this finding and called for a public enquiry.

Meanwhile, a 2010 investigation by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) concluded that there was no credible evidence that Terence had been subjected to mistreatment while in custody at Store Street.

Proposals

A meeting of Dublin City Council this evening was scheduled to debate a proposal to remove Herzog Park’s existing name and to hold a consultation process on choosing a new name for the park, located in Rathgar.

The park is named after an Irish-born, former president of Israel Chaim Herzog.

However, the Chief Executive of the Council Richard Shakespeare said yesterday that he was proposing to withdraw the report and apologised for “administrative oversight”.

He remarked that the current proposal does not take account of the correct statutory procedure and is missing information for a valid resolution to be adopted.

He recommended that the matter should be referred back to the Commemorations and Naming Committee for consideration of the statutory procedure.

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However, this was not the only renaming proposal that was on the agenda and has since been withdrawn.

A proposal was also due to be debated on renaming the Diamond Park in the North Inner City as The Terence Wheelock Memorial Diamond.

People Before Profit has said that this proposal was “removed without proper explanation” and that it has “went through all the appropriate channels”.

“It has been taken off the agenda in the same manner as the proposal relating to Herzog Park, raising serious concerns about political pressure being exerted on a democratic process,” said People Before Profit, which added that the proposal has the “backing of thousands of residents in the North Inner City”.

‘Campaign for truth’

People Before Profit said that there are “unanswered questions surrounding” Terence’s death and that he is “openly and proudly remembered by his neighbours”.

People Before Profit said the renaming of the park is “part of the ongoing campaign for truth”.

It pointed to the fact that a community centre in the UK was named after Stephen Lawrence, a black teenager who was stabbed to death by a racist gang in an unprovoked attack in 1993.

A judicial report said the murder had revealed “institutional racism” in the London Metropolitan police and prompted all public bodies in the UK to adopt anti-racism policies.

“The permanent memorial to Stephen Lawrence helped keep his name alive, helped sustain public pressure and played its own part in securing an eventual independent public inquiry,” said People Before Profit.

“The Wheelock family believe the same principle applies here. The renaming of Diamond Park would be a recognition of Terence’s life, but also a commitment to transparency, justice and the need for an independent public inquiry, something the family have sought for almost two decades.”

Sammy Wheelock, brother of Terence, said that while his family is “extremely disappointed” they will continue to “push for the change in the legislation to make sure that this renaming of the park is put into action”.

People Before Profit councillor Conor Reddy meanwhile remarked that the “effort to rename Diamond Park has been built from the ground up by ordinary people who want justice, dignity and truth”.

He added: “To pull this from the agenda at the last minute is an act of political cowardice and an avoidance of responsibility. We will not accept it.”

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