A proposal to grant Mr Gerry Adams and Mr John Hume the freedom of the city of Dublin was not given debating time at a meeting of Dublin City Council last night.
Independent councillor Mr Finian McGrath put forward the proposal, saying that it could help to "keep the momentum of the peace process moving".
Mr McGrath said that he had previously raised the matter privately with fellow councillors and had received some positive reaction.
However, for the proposal to be debated, a majority of councillors would have had to approve a suspension of standing orders. Last night, there were a number of proposals on different subjects which individual councillors wanted raised, but on a vote the council decided not to suspend standing orders, effectively refusing to discuss any of them.
Mr Dermot Lacey, secretary of the Labour Party group on the council, said that Mr McGrath had already received a "clear no" from other councillors. Labour is the second largest party on the council.
"People would be delighted to give the freedom of the city to John Hume, but it's far, far too early to consider the possibility of Dublin city granting its highest honour to Gerry Adams", Mr Lacey said. "We're deeply annoyed at the manner in which Finian has approached this."
Mr Tommy Broughan, who leads the Labour Party on the council, said he could not understand why Mr David Trimble had not been included in the proposal.
Meanwhile, Mr Pat Carey, who leads the largest party in the council, Fianna Fβil, said he was concerned that the honour of the freedom of the city could be turned into a "political football". Mr Carey said that the matter had never been discussed "in a political way" during the six years he had served as a councillor.
"I would prefer to seek to preserve protocol to see these things done in the way they always have been done", Mr Carey said, adding that the matter should be referred to the council's protocol committee.
