COUNCILLOR Maoliosa McHugh, the outgoing mayor of Derry and Strabane, says he has “no regrets” over his refusal to meet Prince Charles last year.
The Sinn Fein Mayor decided not to meet Prince Charles when he visited flood victims in Derry last October.
It was one of a number of decisions taken during Mr McHugh’s year as mayor of Derry and Strabane to have drawn criticism from unionists.
Mr McHugh steps down as first citizen today, Monday, June 4, after a year in office..
He said he did not meet Prince Charles because he did not wish to “isolate the families of Bloody Sunday in Derry.”
Fourteen people were killed on Bloody Sunday when British paratroopers opened fire on a civil rights march through the city in January 1972.
“I made my position quite clear at that time, that I was not in any way going to isolate the families of Bloody Sunday in Derry who are still waiting on the decision by the Department of Public Prosecutions in relation to the prosecution of soldiers who committed murder on the streets of Derry on Bloody Sunday,” he told BBC Radio Foyle.
He said he had “no regrets whatsoever” about his time as mayor.
In January Mr McHugh’s impartially was questioned by unionist councillors after he used his casting vote to block a move for a councillor to attend a Buckingham Palace garden party.
In September 2017, he had to defend wearing the mayoral chain outside Maghaberry jail after incarcerated Derry republican Tony Taylor.
Taylor was jailed for 18 years in 1994 over a bombing and was caught in 2011 in possession of an explosive device in Derry and later jailed for eight years.
He was freed on licence under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, but his licence was revoked in 2016 and he was thrown back in prison on the word of MI5.
“I went to the prison, and I visited Tony Taylor, I wasn’t wearing the chain into the prison or anywhere else,” Mr McHugh said.
“It is very much the position of Derry City and Strabane District Council that we support the release of Tony Taylor, and I made that clear from the day and hour I came into office as mayor,” he added.
Mr McHugh said his mayoral year was one of many highs.
“I honestly felt so privileged to be mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council.
“In many ways the real highlight to me was in fact engaging with the people of this city themselves, and the children of this city , they were so welcoming in every respect,” he said.
Mr McHugh will be superseded today as mayor by the current deputy mayor, SDLP councillor John Boyle.
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