Motion to change city's name is 'illegal' claims Nesbitt

The UUP's former Environment Minister Dermott Nesbitt has warned that Derry Council could leave itself open to legal action if it passes a motion to drop the prefix 'London' from the City of Londonderry.

Mr Nesbitt said that the Sinn Féin move at Tuesday night’s meeting of the council is "illegal" as, he claimed, it is a breach of Article 75 of the Northern Ireland Act, and as such would leave the council open to a legal challenge.

The article he cited reads: "A public authority shall in carrying out its functions relating to Northern Ireland have regard to the desirability of promoting good relations between persons of different religious belief, political opinion or racial group."

Whether an elected city council is a "public authority" or whether the council has disregarded its duties has yet to be seen. But Mr Nesbitt said that the motion was essentially "divisive and wrong".

He added: “If councillors tonight vote for this motion, potentially they will be behaving illegally. This has implications for the whole council and all the ratepayers in Londonderry.

"They would be advised not to sleepwalk into some kind of republican ‘nightmare’ which will not only be contrary to the Act, but be divisive and wrong.

“Sinn Féin’s assertion that the move is designed to establish a clear corporate civic identity is utter rubbish. What this is really all about is republican dominance and an unwillingness to accommodate Protestants and Unionists.

“They really don’t want a Unionist about the place. Their real motive is to further alienate and upset the British people of Londonderry."

This is not the first time that nationalist and republican politicians have sought to alter the name Northern Ireland's second city. In 1984, the council changed its name to Derry City Council after an attempt to rename the city failed.

The city, and the county, have been known as Londonderry continuously since the 17th century. The name Derry is an Anglicisation of the Irish words Daire – meaning "ancient oak grove". In the past, the area has also been known as Daire Calgach and Doire Cholmcille, but the town has been known as Londonderry following the Royal Charter of 1613. And it appears that only an act of Parliament has the power to change the name of the town, despite what is ratified by the council.

The city council's website currently caters for each of the Maiden City's identities and refers to "Derry-Londonderry-Doire" as the "regional centre of the North West".

(GMcG)