“We`ll not even go down that road”

The nine town councillors in Trim, County Meath have unanimously decided not to call a new street in the town Paisley Parade. The suggested name, previously noted here, had been made by local historian Noel French and would have seen Paisley Parade cross Emmet Street.. although Mr French admitted “It was a modest proposal”..From the UTV report

But Trim Town Council moved swiftly and unanimously to put the controversy to bed by naming the street after a fondly remembered local character, Jimmy Finnegan, who died a decade ago.

One councillor from the ruling Fianna Fail party said the contention surrounding the idea had snow-balled out of control in recent days.

“The chairman [Danny O`Brien] moved deliberately quickly tonight to kill the whole thing. We have a lovely town and we don`t want this to be political,” said Jimmy Peppard.

“I literally couldn`t walk down the street this last week without everybody asking about it. I didn`t realise it would get so out of hand,” he said.

The former Sinn Fein councillor claimed many people in the town were furious at the proposal put before the council.

“Back in 1985 Mr Paisley said there were 101 terrorists in Trim, referring to the first preference votes for Sinn Fein,” he said.

“Two weeks later there was a bomb left in a dustbin outside the young Catholic men`s club in the town and then another one in Market Street.

“People can still remember that.”

And there’s another interesting point noted in the report

The proposal before the town`s nine councillors would have seen Paisley Parade cross Emmet Street – named after Irish nationalist rebel leader Robert Emmet.

The junction would have been overlooked by a huge pillar erected by the British, when they were in control of the state, to the Duke of Wellington, reputed to have been born nearby.

“We`ll not even go down that road,” remarked Mr Peppard.

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