Jon McCourt: Freedom of Derry proposal given go-ahead

Jon McCourt was nominated for the honour by People Before Profit councillor Shaun Harkin

A high-profile campaigner against institutional abuse is to be granted the freedom of Derry City and Strabane despite initial unionist opposition.

A motion to give Jon McCourt the highest honour of the local council was passed in July.

But unionist councillors used a council mechanism to ask for the decision to be reviewed.

Mr McCourt, a former Official IRA member who turned down an MBE, will now get the honour after a majority vote.

He told BBC Radio Foyle's The North West Today programme that he had "mixed feelings" about the whole process at Derry City and Strabane District Council (DCSDC).

"It would have meant a lot more to me if it had of come with the full support of every member of council," Mr McCourt said.

"The unionist delegation, the UUP and the DUP, said their argument was against the process and not me specifically, which I accept."

In July, DUP and UUP councillors abstained from the original vote to confer the honour on Mr McCourt.

Then at a council meeting in August both the DUP and UUP confirmed they had "called-in" the proposal.

That mechanism allows for a decision that has not yet been implemented be looked at again.

Explaining why he had turned down the MBE, Mr McCourt said he had watched friends die on Bloody Sunday and it would be morally wrong for him to receive the same honour "as one of the soldiers who was involved in that".

'Further discussion needed'

At a meeting of DCSDC on Wednesday, DUP councillor Niree McMorris said the party felt "further discussion was needed to make an informed decision".

"This wasn't anything personal about Jon McCourt or anybody else whose name may, or will be in the future put forward," she told the meeting.

The proposal was carried, with 30 councillors voting for, five against and two abstaining.

Jon McCourt formed the group Survivors North West after he spoke publicly about his own experience as a child at St Joseph's Boys' Home in Termonbacca in Derry

Mr McCourt is one of Northern Ireland's most high-profile campaigners for victims of institutional abuse.

He was previously a member of Official IRA - it was the organisation from which the Provisional IRA (PIRA) would emerge in 1969. The PIRA was responsible for the majority of republican violence during the Troubles.

Speaking about his time with the paramilitary organisation on The North West Today on Friday, Mr McCourt said "this was a very long time ago" and that he was "a young man who made a decision about the things happening around me".

He said if that was the reason for people objecting to him receiving the honour, he would accept that.

Mr McCourt later formed the group Survivors North West after he spoke publicly about his own experience as a child at St Joseph's Boys' Home in Termonbacca in Derry.

He also played a key role in the Peace and Reconciliation Group in Derry.

The council will now fix a date for the Freedom of the City award ceremony to take place.