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Belfast Live
National
Shaun Keenan

Tributes paid to Derry civil rights veteran Dermie McClenaghan

Tributes have been paid to veteran civil rights campaigner and socialist activist Dermie McClenaghan after he sadly passed away.

Mr McClenaghan, who was in his 80s, died in Derry on Thursday after an illness.

He was a founding member of Derry's Citizens Action Committee and was one of the people instrumental in the historic civil rights march in Derry on October 5, 1968.

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Paying tribute, Foyle MLA Colum Eastwood said: "I’m so sad to hear that Dermie McClenaghan has passed. A true socialist, a real rebel and probably, the nicest person I have ever met. He was there at the beginning. We’ll miss him."

A lifelong friend, former People Before Profit leader Eamonn McCann said "there wasn't a bad bone in his body".

He added: "It is a long time to be close friends with somebody, Dermie enveloped you in benignity.

"People would say of him that there wasn't a bad bone in his body - that was absolutely the case."

Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle, Mr McCann revealed that the two had shared a Christmas drink as recently as Thursday.

He continued: "I said goodbye to him around half past six.

"I am pleased we met in that context and with friends around, that we had a hug, that we said goodbye before he died - that was a blessing."

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