Council members walk out of meeting in protest at Obamas' Freedom of the City award

Members of the Workers' Party in Dublin reacted strongly to the announcement that Lord Mayor Brendan Carr is to award Barack and Michelle Obama the Freedom of Dublin City.

The news divided members of Dublin City Council.

I am delighted that @DubCityCouncil will confer the Honorary Freedom of the City of Dublin on Barack and Michelle Obama. @ObamaFoundation

— Lord Mayor of Dublin (@LordMayorDublin) February 6, 2017

"To grant Dublin's highest honour to a man responsible for inflicting such harm on communities across the globe, does a great disservice to the residents of Dublin - and, more importantly, to the families of the many victim's of Obama's record of war and bombing. ," said Cllr. Éilis Ryan of the Workers' Party.

"Its unheard of that the Freedom of the City would be granted to such a divisive figure. Indeed, there has never been a vote on a candidate during my time on the council."

Cllr. Ryan said that, if the intention was to oppose Donald Trump's actions, a more appropriate action would have been to nominate one of the many activists standing up for the rights of those opposed by Trump.

"The United States has seen a phenomenal upsurge in activists taking back their country from Donald Trump's racist, dangerous politics.

"If the Lord Mayor's intention was to show solidarity with those opposed to Donald Trump's racism, names such as Bernie Sanders, Angela Davis and many many more could easily have been found."