DEAD: THE IRA CHIEF WHO TURNED TO PEACE
MARTIN McGUINNESS BLOODY SUNDAY GUNMAN TO HANDSHAKE WITH QUEEN
MARTIN McGUINNESS, the ruthless ex-IRA commander who became pivotal in bringing peace to Northern Ireland, has died aged 66 after a short illness. The Sinn Fein veteran was one of the most controversial figures in AngloIrish history.
In his early twenties, he was an IRA commander on Bloody Sunday in 1972. But 40 years later, he shook hands with the Queen after the
hi storic Nor thern Ireland peace process.
Mr McGuinness, until recently Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister, was diagnosed with a rare heart condition at the end of last year. He died in hospital overnight in his home city of Londonderry, also known as Derry, surrounded by family members.
Theresa May led tributes to him for his “historic contribution” in leading Northern Ireland from bloodshed to peace. “While I can never condone the path he took in the earlier part of his life, Martin McGuinness ultimately played a defining role in leading the republican movement away from violence,” she said.
“In doing so, he made an essential and historic contribution to the extraordinary journey of Northern Ireland from conflict to peace.”
Former prime minister Tony Blair said the peace process, including the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, would not have been possible without the “leadership and courage” shown by Mr McGuinness. “Once he became the peacemaker he became it wholeheartedly,” he said.
Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny said: “Not only did Martin come to believe that peace must prevail, he committed himself to working tirelessly to that end.”
However, Mr McGuinness’s violent past, before he made the journey from gunman to statesman, will never be forgiven by many in the UK.
Former Tory Cabinet minister Lord Tebbit said he hoped Mr McGuinness is “parked in a particularly hot and unpleasant corner of hell for the rest of eternity”. The peer, whose wife Margaret was paralysed when the IRA bombed Brighton’s Grand Hotel in 1984, during the Conservative Party conference, said the world is “sweeter and cleaner” following his death.
Colin Parry, whose 12-year-old son Tim died in an IRA bombing in Warrington in 1993, said: “I don’t forgive Martin, I don’t forgive the IRA. Nor does my wife, nor do my children. But setting aside forgiveness, the simple fact is, I found Martin McGuinness an easy and pleasant man to talk to. A man who I believe was sincere in his desire for peace and maintaining the peace process at all costs.”
Jo Berry, the daughter of Tory MP Sir Anthony Berry, who was killed in the Brighton bomb, said Mr McGuinness should be remembered for his efforts to build peace. She tweeted: “Tebbit not speaking for all, I value Martin McGuinness as an inspiring example of peace and reconciliation.” However, Stephen Gault, whose father Samuel,
‘He ultimately played a defining role in leading the republican movement away from violence’
Prime Minister Theresa May
49, was one of 11 people killed by an IRA bomb in Enniskillen in 1987, said: “I will always remember Martin McGuinness as the terrorist he was.”
Julie Hambleton, whose older sister Maxine was killed in the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings, stressed that many relatives of IRA victims were still waiting for “truth and justice”.
Once described as “Britain’s number one terrorist”, Mr McGuinness was second-in-command of the IRA in his home city in 1972, at the age of 21. He held this position at the time of Bloody Sunday, when 14 protesters were killed in the city by soldiers with the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment.
The next year he was convicted by the Republic of Ireland’s Special Criminal Court after being arrested near a car containing explosives and ammunition. After his release from jail, and another conviction in the Republic for IRA membership, he became increasingly prominent in Sinn Fein, becoming its best known face after Gerry Adams. He was in indirect contact with British intelligence during the hunger strikes in the early Eighties, and again in the early Nineties. In 1982, he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont representing his home city.
He eventually became Sinn Fein’s chief negotiator in the talks that led to the Good Friday Agreement which ended violence, secured IRA arms decommissioning in 2005 and shared government with former enemies. In 2012, after his historic handshake with
the Queen, Mr McGuinness said he “genuinely regretted” every life lost during the Troubles.
He forged an unlikely friendship with prominent unionist the late Reverend Ian Paisley. During their time in office as first and deputy first minister, Mr Paisley and Mr McGuinness earned the nickname the “Chuckle Brothers”.
Mr Paisley’s son Kyle tweeted: “Look back with pleasure on the remarkable year he and my father spent in office together and the great good they did together.”
Sinn Fein president Mr Adams said: “Throughout his life Martin showed great determination, dignity and humility and it was no different during his short illness. He was a passionate republican who worked tirelessly for peace and reconciliation and for the reunification of his country.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn tweeted: “Martin McGuinness played a huge role in bringing about peace in Northern Ireland. He was a great family man and my thoughts are with them.”
Mr McGuinness’s last act as a politician was to pull down the powersharing executive at Stormont when he resigned as deputy first minister in January over the Democratic Unionists’ handling of a green energy scandal. He is survived by his wife Bernie and four children.