He was born 14 April 1915 in Tralee, County Kerry, second son among three sons and one daughter of John McCourt, originally of Banbridge, County Down, clerk with the congested districts board at Tralee, and later a distributor with Argosy Libraries, and Mary Christina McCourt (née Small) of Co.
Currently, the project brings teens from eleven cities in Northern Ireland, including Banbridge, Belfast, Derry, Omagh, Coleraine, Strabane, Sion Mills, Limavady, Portadown, Castlederg, Enniskillen and Cookstown.