It’s f ine, Dublin, really – I have the freedom of loads of other cities
Bob responds... and comes bearing gifts
BOB Geldof yesterday proudly listed the cities he has been granted the freedom of and insisted he’s not upset at losing the award in his hometown of Dublin.
Dublin City Council voted overwhelmingly to remove his name from the Roll of Honorary Freedom of the city, after the singer handed back the award last month in protest at Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi also holding the award.
But speaking yesterday, as he donated a vast archive of material from the Band Aid Africa famine relief effort to the Irish State, Geldof said he objected to the notion that he was ‘disgusted’ that he has now lost the accolade.
Ms Suu Kyi, who was presented with the award in 1999, has failed to condemn brutal violence against Rohingya Muslims in her own country, prompting a threat from Geldof that he would relinquish his freedom award unless hers was also taken off her
In the end, the council voted not only to strip the honour from Ms Suu Kyi last week, but also to remove the honorary freedom from the Boomtown Rats singer.
Despite reports that the activist was disappointed following the decision, he said yesterday that it was ‘fine’ that he no longer has the award. Speaking on RTÉ Radio, Geldof indicated that despite not having the freedom of his hometown, he is not short of the honour elsewhere in the world.
‘I have the freedom of the city of London, I have the freedom of the city of Newcastle, I have it of cities in Australia, I have it in New Zealand, I have some in America, Belgium, France – but not my own town, but it’s fine,’ the knighted pop star cribbed. He added: ‘In my statement I said… I’d like it back if you do this, but if not, so be it, and apparently it’s so be it.
‘What I object to is people making up that I’m disgusted and furious. I’m not... it’s up to them.’
He added that having Ms Suu Kyi removed from the honorary roll has ‘restored the honour of all the people who are on it and restored the meaning of being given the freedom of the city’.
Speaking to the Irish Daily Mail last week, Dublin Lord Mayor Micheál Mac Donncha said Geldof ‘threw’ the award back, and the vote was just confirming his decision. He said: ‘It was his choice. He did so without any prior discussion with the council on the issue of Aung San Suu Kyi.’
Geldof received criticism for failing to also hand back his Freedom of London, considering he also shares that with Ms Suu Kyi.
But the 66-year-old singer was back in his old stomping ground yesterday bearing his own gifts for the city, as he came with a trove of memorabilia from the 1984 Band Aid fundraiser, which he gave to the National Library of Ireland.
Among the archive were hundreds of letters from private individuals and well-known public figures, artwork, poetry and musical recordings. Geldof and Midge Ure’s first version of Do They Know It’s Christmas? raised £8million for famine relief in Ethiopia after it took the Christmas No.1 in 1984. Geldof, the Band Aid Trust’s chairman, said: ‘This then is our thanks and gratitude to Ireland and the Irish.’
The archive will be transported from London where it has been in storage. It will be catalogued, preserved, digitised and exhibited.