Name deadlock

Speaking after the meeting DUP and UUP delegates said they hoped the defeat of two rival motions by the SDLP and Sinn Fin would mark an end to the saga.

Before the votes leader of the DUP on the Council Gregory Campbell has warned that the postponement of a decision on the controversial Londonderry name change bid until after a General Election would allow the SDLP to solicit unionist votes.

Joe Miller of the DUP fears the row over the bid to expunge the "London" prefix from the official record is going to rumble on despite the stalemate and the failure of even the city's nationalist parties to agree a consensus.

He commented: "Obviously if the SDLP and Sinn Fin want to, in a number of months, it will rear its head again. We don't want that. There are more important things in town to be dealing with. This is like groundhog day. It's been going on since the 1980s."

Dustbin

UUP Alderman Mary Hamilton also wants the name change application consigned to the dustbin of council acrimony.

"People need to accept what happened today," she said. "The vote was taken today and just accept it. Let us just put this to bed now and move forward."

At Monday's meeting Unionists and Nationalists united momentarily to defeat two competing proposals on the controversial application.

But it was partisan politics on the part of the SDLP and Sinn Fin that forged the ad hoc alliances.

First, the DUP, UUP and Sinn Fin joined forces to shoot down an SDLP proposal to effectively park the application whilst a working group addressed concerns raised by the Equality Commission (EC) and the Community Relations Council (CRC).

Unionists then voted along with the SDLP to block a Sinn Fin proposal to proceed with the Council's original plan unaltered and go ahead and petition the Privy Council to change the official name of the city to "Derry", regardless of EC, CRC or Unionist concerns.

SDLP councillor Helen Quigley - exasperated at the prospect of "deadlock" whilst "people out there are worried about jobs" - said it "was not good enough that this elected body can sit here and to say that we can't find a way forward."

She tried to put her recently defeated motion to the floor again but was informed by Chief Executive Valerie Watts that this would be in breach of protocol and an amendment would at least be required for the motion to be put to the floor.

Councillor Quigley subsequently proposed a special meeting of the party leaders be convened to discuss the matter. But this also was defeated.

During his chairmanship of the meeting Mayor Paul Fleming said he felt as though he was watching a Marx brothers film.

Mr Miller said the Unionist bloc had voted in accordance with the strongly held principles that have guided them since the latest controversy over the city name surfaced eight years ago.

"Well, we voted according to our conscience," said Joe Miller.

"It's not right. It causes deep offence because it divides communities and doesn't allow us try to have a shared city. If this city was called 'Newyorkderry' would we be in there having that debate? It's simply because of the 'London' and yet we are shortlisted for the UK City of Culture. This should be the end of it but I don't think it will be."

Mrs Hamilton said: "We have a city here - we are competing for the UK City of Culture - let us all work together for the good of the city. And my point is that Londonderry suits both sides of the community and so we should leave it at that."

"As far as I'm concerned that should be the end of it but I don't think it will."

She argued that a continuance of the name change row could scupper the ongoing bid for the UK City of culture 2013.

"It could. Of course it could," she said. "If we can't agree on a name why would people want to invest money here for?" she asked.

City solicitor Damien McMahon had earlier remarked that no assessment ever undertaken by Derry City Council had had "such an intensive consultation." He said the fact so many responses were received from outside the city was "unique."

He referred to the "many responses where cut-outs from newspapers" that were featured but pointed out that most of these merely opposed or supported the proposed application.

He also urged councillors to take "particular note" of submissions by the Equality Commission (EQ) and the Community Relations Council (CRC).