Derry City and Strabane District Council members have paid tribute to former Mayor of Derry and MLA, Annie Courtney

Ms Courtney, who passed away earlier this week, represented the SDLP at Derry City Council from 1985, serving as Mayor in 1993, before replacing John Hume as Foyle representative at the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2000.

During July’s council meeting SDLP councillor John Boyle requested that council’s current Mayor, Sinn Féin councillor Grace Uí Niallais, send a letter of condolences to Annie Courtney's family, and noted that he had known her for “very many years”.

“Annie Courtney served for a very long time as a councillor on Derry City Council," he said. "I've been a member of the SDLP since I was a teenager, and Annie was a very prominent member of the council team from the '80s right through until she actually became an MLA.

Daniel O’Donnell receiving a civic plaque and parian china vase from the then Mayor of Derry, Annie Courtney, 1994

placeholder image — Daniel O’Donnell receiving a civic plaque and parian china vase from the then Mayor of Derry, Annie Courtney, 1994

“I know she in particular was very proud of the fact that she replaced John Hume at Assembly level.

“Annie left politics probably in and around the mid-2000s, but she was a very valued and respected member of the SDLP team on Derry City Council in particular.”

Councillor Boyle added that Ms Courtney was a key figure in Impact 92, a major arts and cultural festival held in Derry in 1992, which he said was instrumental in Derry’s successful City of Culture bid in 2013.

“Obviously Annie had her own family and she was a well-loved mother and wife," he noted. “I always remember everywhere you went the family was there and she would have been accompanied by her late husband, Sid.”

Colr. Annie Courtney when chairperson, Amenities and Leisure Department, City Council, with then Mayor of Derry, Councillor Tony Carlin, and others at the opening night of the North-West Arts Festival. (201107TGB04)

UUP alderman Derek Hussey said he had a working relationship with Ms Courtney as both a Strabane councillor and MLA and he was “really sorry to learn of her passing”.

UUP alderman Darren Guy concluded: “I was only a young cub whenever she took the benches here in the Guildhall. She was at the council the same time as my father and I remember her well and fondly.

“So our family would take Annie as a good friend, and we'd just pass on our condolences to all our family that are mourning her.”