PADDY WAGON STIRS IRISH IRE.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

Still grappling with life in an increasingly politically correct society, Los Angeles police said Friday they will rename the Paddy Wagon program that offers free rides home for St. Patrick's Day tipplers.

This year, tipsy celebrants can pile into the LAPD-sponsored Party Wagon, renamed because of objections to the word paddy.

``We received calls from groups in the Irish community who said, that's really not a nice word,'' said LAPD Cmdr. Art Lopez. ``I guess evidently it's got a bad connotation in the Irish community. We didn't know that. But we decided to change it.''

Because the LAPD made the decision so late, the telephone number to get a free ride March 17 remains: (800) 80PADDY.

The issue has upset some members of the San Fernando Valley's rather large Irish-American community. Carmel Hanratty of Van Nuys and Allene Buchanan of Glendale have campaigned for the past three years to lift paddy from the LAPD's lexicon.

``It's very derogative and very demeaning,'' said Hanratty, an Irish native who came to the United States nearly 30 years ago.

Buchanan and Hanratty said the term is especially objectionable when used in connection with alcohol because it perpetuates the stereotype of the Irish as heavy drinkers.

But other Irish-Americans - among 4 million in California - say the name change is an unnecessary concession to political correctness.

``We have no objections to the term paddy wagon and do not feel it is derogatory,'' said Robert E. McGuinness of Sherman Oaks, president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians of Los Angeles County. ``We think it's part of Irish-American history.''

Irish-born James McGurrin, owner of the Irish Times Bar and Restaurant in Los Angeles, agreed.

``I never had a problem with it,'' McGurrin said. ``I just think there's too much of this political correctness. Eventually we won't be able to express ourselves.''

Webster's New World College Dictionary defines Paddy as ``Irishman: a patronizing and formerly derisive term.'' The dictionary says Paddy comes from the word Padraig, which it says is the Irish form of the name Patrick.

The term paddy wagon is defined as slang for a patrol wagon.

Last year, the ``Irish Hour'' radio program in Glendale took up the cause, and it caught the attention of Buchanan, then president of the Irish Network, a professional networking group of immigrants and Irish-Americans.

After a letter from Buchanan, the Police Commission agreed to ask Chief Willie L. Williams to drop the word paddy.

``The board agrees that the use of this term, although common, can be offensive to many people of Irish descent and should not be used in the future,'' the commission wrote in a letter.

Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Tim McBride, who is of Irish ancestry himself, said the word paddy can be used in negative and positive ways. It can be an affectionate term, he said.

But, he concluded: ``We are here to serve the public. We cannot afford to offend people we serve.''