Hume’s legacy

A peace-maker and risk-taker

TO DESCRIBE John Hume as a peace-maker does a disservice to one of the architects of the Northern Ireland peace process, and subsequent Good Friday Agreement. He, and kindred spirits like his fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner David Trimble, also had to be significant risk-takers in order to bring decades of bloodshed to a belated end.

Today Northern Ireland is one of the most vibrant destinations in Europe and could not be further removed from the paramilitary terrorism and sectarianism that came to define its people and not so recent past. Yet, for years, Mr Hume, a founding member of the SDLP, became an intermediary between IRA / Sinn Fein and successive UK governments.

As others shunned responsibility, he became integral to the peace process and Northern Ireland’s centrist parties, like the

SDLP and the then Ulster Unionist Party headed by David, now Lord Trimble, became crucial to the work of John Major’s government, and then Tony Blair’s administration, in securing a lasting peace.

Though the differences between the key players were notable, and the opposition from the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein who, in the final twist, now share power at Stormont significant, there was one constant – the perseverance of Mr Hume, and like-minded others, who never lost faith in their efforts. Only now, when the differences are political, is it possible to fully appreciate their collective moral courage as Britain, Ireland and the world mourn John Hume whose personal bravery – he became a target for the assassins – and farsightedness will be studied and admired for generations to come.