Councillors in Drogheda have voted to no longer recognise the former head of the Christian Brothers - Br Edmund Garvey - as a freeman of his home town.
It comes after controversy around a legal strategy adopted by the religious order in civil cases involving survivors of child sexual abuse.
Five councillors voted for the motion, four voted against, with one absent.
Labour Councillor Emma Cutlip, who proposed the emergency motion, said she was "very glad" that it had passed and she hoped it might relieve some of the "unessesary suffering" of victims.
She said a note will now be entered into Drogheda's Freedom Book to reflect the motion.
Cllr Cutlip said that while valid concerns were expressed by four councillors, who opposed her motion, everyone had listened in a respectful way to the debate.
She said they had been dealing with an "unprecedented situation", but added that such issues have to be faced up to.
Mayor of Drogheda Eileen Tully noted the abuse she received in recent weeks to rescind the freedom of the town from Br Garvey.
Fine Gael TD for Louth Fergus O'Dowd called on the Christian Brothers to change their legal strategy of refusing to provide a nominated person, to act on behalf of the congregation, when contacted by survivors of child sexual abuse.
Mr O'Dowd said the strategy was "unfair and unacceptable" and welcomed the outcome of the vote by the council.
The Freedom of Drogheda was given to Br Garvey in 1997.
He was the head of the Christian Brothers in Ireland, when it adopted a legal strategy to defend civil cases taken by victims seeking compensation for historical child sexual abuse.
The strategy means the Christian Brothers has not put forward a nominee to represent it as a defendant in civil cases, which means there is no organisation for victims to sue.
Instead, plaintiffs have to sue all individual Christian Brothers who were members of the order at the time of the alleged abuse.
The approach, while legal, can make it difficult for plaintiffs to pursue their cases.
Independent Councillor and Deputy Mayor of Drogheda Kevin Callan said he voted against the motion, because Louth County Council voted in July to criticise the order's litigation strategy.
"It's quite straightforward from my point of view and Louth County Council back in July voted on this issue of the litigation strategy of the Christian Brothers to criticise it and to write to them to stop it.
"But this matter persisted and we were then asked to effectively strip this person of an honour that they'd received and I voted against it because number one, we have no legal power to do it.
He said the councillors, including him, voted to criticise the legal strategy but "the reality is this is a retired former head of the Christian Brothers, this act that was undertaken yesterday is not going to change that strategy.
