Flexing Verbal Muscles

Back in 1984, shortly after control of the city council was won by the nationalist element, the governing members set out to change some things that they thought needed changing. They made a big change. A change with a great deal of significance and subtle nose-tweaking. A change that poked a sharp stick at unionist pride.

There's a song about this city, called Londonderry Air. Lovely tune, but it's not Londonderry anymore, nor has it been since 1984. You see, the town was originally named Doire, which is Irish for oak grove. The Protestants came in, took over and declared that the place was to be Londonderry, King James gave the town fathers a fancy charter and all that jazz back in 1613, and that settled the hash of the defeated Catholics. It would seem that the Catholics played the long game, however, biding their time until the right moment to reclaim their ancient name.

Bit by bit, the Irish took back the town, until they got to the point where they governed the city. With a mighty blow to unionist sentiment, the council passed legislation that returned the city to its original name, with an Anglicized spelling. Needless to say, the British government was not amused, and did not agree with the City Council's legal reasoning.

Mr. Justice Weatherup of the High Court in Belfast has to settle the long-running dispute. Derry City Council has asked him to decide a thorny legal issue, and thereby force the Department of the Environment and the government to call the town Derry, not Londonderry. The government claims that the Royal Charter is still in effect, meaning that Queen Elizabeth herself has to give the okay for the name change. And here you were thinking she had nothing at all to do as her golden years stretched out to a mind-numbing, boring eternity.

The Council, on the other hand, insists that they have the authority, with the passing of the Local Government Act in 1972 in essence amending the old charters, making it perfectly legal for the council to lop off the 'London' part. The legal counsel for the Department of Environment, of course, says no, that the council has no such authority and it's up to Her Nibs on the throne to give approval. Meanwhile, since the 1984 decree, the Catholics state that they live in Derry, while the Protestants call the town Londonderry, and you'd have to believe that it makes for a difficult time of sorting the Royal Mail. One city cannot have two names, and so the Derry City Council turned to the High Court.

No one envies the judge, whose decision will either infuriate the nationalists or enrage the unionists. Whatever Mr. Justice Weatherup decides, you can be sure that the citizens of the second largest city in the north of Ireland are not going to change their minds. The whole issue has nothing to do with a name, and everything to do with a dispute that's been ongoing for a good five hundred years.