To judge Martin, turn to Ian Paisley Jr: ‘It is more important how you finish your life than where you start’

FEW people are afforded the opportunity to read or hear their own obituaries. Martin McGuinness was. The announcement of his retirement due to ill health, in January, brought about pages upon pages of retrospective assessment and hours of broadcast commentary, as well as the sending of many good wishes as he fought an illness which, sadly, quickly proved to be terminal.

If he read it, or listened to what was being said about him, he would have found most of it fair and generous, and discovered too that he was well liked and generally respected. That must be a good thing for any person to know as they prepare for their death, difficult as such preparation must be when you still have so much you want to give.

Ruthless

That it had come to that was, in itself, remarkable. This man, after all, once was one of the most important commanders of a ruthless, murderous machine, the self-styled and illegal Irish Republican Army. Under his watch and direction it did many dreadful things, for which no retrospective justification can be offered or accepted. He had blood on his hands. But he also washed that blood clean.

He had not just stopped the killing, but he had worked as hard as anyone could have asked to build bridges between all those of different religious traditions and political beliefs in Northern Ireland. He had embraced democratic politics and had shown a commitment to compromise, an understanding of and respect towards the views of others who did not agree with his republicanism. And he had done so with transparent sincerity.

Talking to a friend from Derry recently – a lapsed Catholic but very much part of the nationalist tribe – I asked him how Mr McGuinness had managed the extraordinary feat of going from reviled killer to a friend of leading unionists and Protestants, such as the Paisley family. ‘He had atoned,’ I was told.

Atonement, as I checked in the dictionary, is all about reconciliation, based on confessing one’s sins and living out the penance. ‘The Protestant tradition in the North is very much into words and deeds,’ my friend told me. ‘Martin had admitted his past and made it clear that he was trying to compensate for it. That’s why he was accepted and even embraced.’

Our conversation had been prompted by the extraordinary tribute Ian Paisley Jr had paid to Mr McGuinness in a live BBC television programme a few nights after the latter had announced his retirement. The text is worth reprinting because it was utterly extraordinary to anybody with a memory of the hatred and bigotry that defined the North for so many years, especially when Ian Paisley Sr, founder of the Democratic Unionist Party, was the most outspoken critic of the IRA and Sinn Féin.

Mr Paisley Jr said of Mr McGuinness: ‘I want to say “thank you”, and I think it’s important to reflect on the fact that we would not be where we are in Northern Ireland in terms of having stability, peace and the opportunity to rebuild our country if it hadn’t been for the work that he put in, especially with my father, at the beginning of this long journey.’

Remarkable

He continued: ‘I can say thank you to them honestly and humbly and recognise that the remarkable journey that Martin McGuinness went on has not only saved lives, but has also made the lives of countless people better in Northern Ireland because of the partnership government that we worked in and put together.’

As if that was not enough, he recalled that ‘they were nicknamed the Chuckle Brothers in a disparaging way, but by golly, those chuckles helped get Northern Ireland to a place of stability and to a place where today, it is very easy for me to recognise the contribution that Martin McGuinness made’.

Whatever else Mr McGuinness was, he was committed. As a fighter for the IRA, he was dedicated to doing whatever he or others thought was required – and those within who broke ranks suffered his wrath. However, once he had been persuaded that his war could not be won and that it would be better to fight for peace, he did so with the same level of commitment. He engaged with whoever necessary – the British and Irish governments, their security forces, other politicians, the media – to press the case.

Once the peace deals had been signed – and, in time, largely due to his persuasion alongside Gerry Adams, the IRA disbanded – he threw himself into government for all of the people of the six counties. To do so, he made sure he developed sincere relationships with Mr Paisley Sr and his successor Peter Robinson. It is a great pity his efforts to do the same with Arlene Foster fell on more fallow ground.

Support

He tried to reach out to the unionist community beyond their political representatives. The last time I spoke to him was before he headed to France last summer to support both Northern Ireland and the Republic in their games in the Euro 2016 soccer championships. Few people did both but he knew that the sixcounty team was important to the sizeable community he represented, so he offered it his support.

It was all part of the process that was designed to enhance a greater feeling of normality in everyday, non-political life in the North, and has helped people from differing traditions to feel more secure in each other’s company.

If we all remember the evidence of that in the photos of Mr Paisley Sr and Mr McGuinness laughing together, then equally symbolic and important was the picture of Mr McGuinness shaking hands with Queen Elizabeth.

It was the summer of 2012, and what is also notable is that they both smiled warmly. Mr McGuinness, remember, was one of those who protested on the streets of his native Derry on Bloody Sunday, when the British Army murdered so many innocent civilians. His IRA had murdered her uncle, Lord Mountbatten. The show of mutual respect – and equality – was one of the most important moments of the peace process. He explained it by saying that the British had caused much grief for his community, but that he understood that the IRA had done the same to her family. It was surely significant that it was announced yesterday that the Queen would be contacting Mr McGuinness’s widow personally to express her regret at his passing.

That handshake and the Queen’s contact displayed a graciousness and maturity that was lacking in some of the British reaction yesterday – from politicians given a platform to discuss Mr McGuinness’s passing – when they chose to focus on his earlier, rather than later, years. This was in stark contrast to unionist politicians – who had some reasons to be bitter, but nonetheless appreciated what Mr McGuinness had done.

Maybe those harsh critics missed the television appearance made by Ian Paisley Jr on BBC1’s breakfast show yesterday. He said Christians believed it is more important how you finish your life than where you start it.

You don’t have to be a Christian to appreciate the significance of that.