Giving the Freedom of Dublin City to non-Dubliners like Greta Thunberg, "smacks of virtue signalling", Shane Coleman has said.
The Newstalk Breakfast presenter was speaking after the Swedish climate activist agreed to accept the award offered to her by Lord Mayor Caroline Conroy.
The decision has been criticised by former Lord Mayor Nial Ring – who is claiming that the award has “gone mad” and calling for a revaluation of what it is all about.
I am proud to nominate @GretaThunberg and @DuncanStewart4 for the Freedom of Dublin.
Our city has never before used this award to celebrate the role of environmental activists. We must recognise the incredible work done across generations to protect our shared city and planet. pic.twitter.com/kpR5kTvEwD
— Cllr. Caroline Conroy (@caroline1conroy) June 7, 2023
Shane said the freedom of the city is an honour that should only be bestowed upon people it “means something to”.
“I was looking through the list of people who have gotten it,” he said.
“The first person to ever get it was Isaac Butt, a very famous Dubliner obviously.
“In more recent years, the likes of Kevin Heffernan, John Giles, Peter McVerry, Jim Gavin, Kellie Harrington, Maureen Potter, Brian O’Driscoll – they are people who I actually think the freedom of Dublin would mean something to.
“They are Dubs, they are from the city.”
"Virtue Signalling"
He said honouring non-Dubliners like Greta Thunberg or previous recipients such as Mikhail Gorbachev and John F. Kennedy, “smacks of virtue signalling”.
“We are great at doing that - aren’t we brilliant - and it’s an easy thing to do, there’s no cost to it,” he said.
“I think it is quite ironic. I think many of the councillors who will vote to give the freedom of the city to Greta Thunberg would never vote for a green measure; would oppose every single green measure including carbon taxes.
“So, this is an easy thing to do but it is meaningless and I don’t think many of them will actually back it up with the kind of policies that they are endorsing.”
Honour
He noted that Thunberg took a long time to accept the honour – eventually agreeing just before it was announced.
“It doesn’t mean anything to her,” he said.
“I actually heard the U2 speeches recently and actually it meant something to them; you could tell from their speeches.
“Larry Mullen gave a really powerful speech; it meant a lot to him.
“I think it means something to Dubliners, it doesn’t mean anything to Greta Thunberg so let’s not give it to people who don’t care about it.”
Thunberg is in line for the honour alongside Irish environmentalist Duncan Stewart.
