Judge to decide if Derry still takes London prefix

A judge was given the unenviable task yesterday of settling the long-running controversy over the name of Northern Ireland's …

A judge was given the unenviable task yesterday of settling the long-running controversy over the name of Northern Ireland's second largest city.

Derry or Londonderry is the issue that has to be decided by Mr Justice Weatherup in the High Court in Belfast in a judicial review brought by Derry City Council.

The nationalist-controlled council is seeking a declaration requiring the government and the Department of the Environment (DoE) to accept the council's view that the name of the city is Derry.

The department believes such a change would require a petition to the Queen to amend the name established in a royal charter granted by King James I in 1613.

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But the council's view is that such a petition is unnecessary because royal charters are subject to the provisions of local government legislation that saw the council's name changed to Derry in 1984.

If the judge refuses to grant the declaration the council seeks, then it would propose an alternative by asking him to order the government and the DoE to take all reasonable steps to change the name to Derry and to facilitate the exercise of the royal prerogative if necessary.

Unionists are strongly opposed to any move to drop the "London" prefix and claim it would lead to further alienation.

The proposed name change has generated many a heated debate, but the hearing was largely ignored by the public and politicians.

The only public representative present was Kevin Campbell, a Sinn Féin member of the city council, whose party and the SDLP called for an agreed name four years ago.

But it is unlikely the judge's ruling will end a dispute that has divided the city's Protestants and Catholics for generations.

The name Derry is an Anglicisation of the original Gaelic name of the city, Doire, meaning oak grove. The London prefix was added in 1613 to reflect the association with the ancient Companies of the City of London and, in particular, The Honourable the Irish Society, which had been granted lands in and around the city.

Michael Lavery, QC, for the council, said: "It is a fiction to suppose that there are two separate entities - one which is called Derry City Council and the other called Londonderry city."

Bernard McCloskey, QC, for the DoE, said there was no government policy or preference with regard to the correct title and he submitted that it was questionable whether the council had made a case for any change.

Mr McCloskey said there appeared to be agreement between the parties that the royal charters continued in existence unamended until the passing of the 1972 Local Government Act.

This gave rise to two basic questions: did the 1972 Act amend the charters or did the 1984 order, under which the council's name was changed, amend the charters.

"The government's submission is that each of these questions invites a negative answer," said Mr McCloskey, with the result that neither of the two pieces of legislation could have the effect advocated by the council.

The hearing is due to end today and Mr Justice Weatherup is expected to reserve his decision.