Church leaders have paid tribute to Martin McGuinness, the former deputy first minister of Northern Ireland, who died this week aged 66. The former Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) chief of staff, who played a key part in securing the Good Friday Agreement, died from a rare genetic disease after a short illness.

Announcing the death of McGuinness, Sinn Fein said in a statement : "It is with deep regret and sadness that we have learnt of the death of our friend and comrade Martin McGuinness who passed away in Derry during the night. He will be sorely missed by all who knew him."

The Primate of All Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin, remembered a man who “chose personally to leave behind the path of violence and to walk instead along the more challenging path of peace and reconciliation.”

McGuinness was chief of staff for the Provisional IRA between 1979 and 1982. He worked closely with former Prime Minister Tony Blair to win concessions for its supporters during the peace process. 

Archbishop Martin praised his courageousness as a leader, adding that he was a key architect of the peace process. “I have no doubt that Martin's faith and relationship with God guided him along this journey,” he added. “Martin was ambitious for peace. He knew that peace was worth striving for and was within reach in his lifetime.”

He called for a redoubling of efforts to find solutions to Ireland’s current problems, in tribute to Martin’s legacy.

His counterpart in the Church of Ireland, Archbishop of Armagh Dr Richard Clarke, said McGuinness’s life was one of two distinct halves, adding “most of us have great difficulty in connecting the two”. 

McGuinness with the Rev Ian Paisley. The pair became friends despite their rivalry during The Troubles

 

“That having been said [and it must be said], while recognising the hurt, fear and misery brought into hundreds of other lives in the first part of that life, we should also convey proper appreciation of the immense statesmanlike qualities that Martin McGuinness brought into the political life of Northern Ireland in recent years,” he added.

The Church of Ireland Bishop of Derry, Right Rev Ken Good, echoed his comments. He said that while many in the community found it difficult to come to terms with McGuinness’ involvement in the Provisional IRA, in recent years the Irish Republican had taken “undeniable risks for the greater good and developing relationships that would previously have been considered most unlikely”.
The President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, said the island of Ireland would miss his leadership, and paid tribute to his immense contribution to the advancement of peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland.

 

OBITUARY: MARTIN McGUINNESS Martin McGuinness, 66, who went from being a paramilitary leader to laying the foundations for peace in Northern Ireland, was diagnosed with a rare heart condition in December and died in a hospital in Derry, Northern Ireland, surrounded by his family on Monday grew up in a province radically different from the one in which he leaves behind. The Derry in which McGuinness grew up was marked by deprivation and gerrymandering that ensured the majority Catholic community in the city was never able to exercise political influence. Discrimination in employment, housing and education was widespread... READ THE FULL ARTICLE: FROM CIVIL RIGHTS TO THE PEACE PROCESS VIA THE IRA

 

Irish President Michael D. Higgins said that "the world of politics and the people across this island will miss the leadership he gave, shown most clearly during the difficult times of the peace process, and his commitment to the values of genuine democracy that he demonstrated in the development of the institutions in Northern Ireland". "His death leaves a gap that will be difficult to fill," the president said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said McGuinness played a key role in ending violence. "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. In doing so, he made an essential and historic contribution to the extraordinary journey of Northern Ireland from conflict to peace," she said.

The Queen - whose cousin cousin Lord Mountbatten was murdered by the Provisional IRA in 1979 - sent a personal message of condolence to McGuinness' widow, Bernie, Buckingham Palace confirmed.

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams remembered a “passionate republican” who worked tirelessly for peace. “Throughout his life Martin showed great determination, dignity and humility and it was no different during his short illness," Adams said. "He was a passionate republican who worked tirelessly for peace and reconciliation and for the reunification of his country. 

 

McGuinness with Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams

 

"But above all he loved his family and the people of Derry and he was immensely proud of both. On behalf of republicans everywhere we extend our condolences to Bernie, Fiachra, Emmet, Fionnuala and Grainne, grandchildren and the extended McGuinness family.

“He was a passionate republican who worked tirelessly for peace and reconciliation and for the re-unification of his country.  But above all he loved his family and the people of Derry and he was immensely proud of both," Adams added.

However, some victims of the IRA have questioned whether McGuinness deserved forgiveness for his role in the killing of innocent victims. Lord Tebbit, talking on GMTV this morning said he didn't believe that McGuinness should be forgiven because “forgiveness requires confession of sins and repentance”. “There was none of that,” he added. 

Tebbit, whose wife Margaret was paralysed by the Provisional IRA bomb that ripped through the Grand Hotel in Brighton during the Conservative Party conference in 1984, added: "He knew that the IRA were defeated because British intelligence had penetrated right the way up to the Army Council and that the end was coming. He then sought to save his own skin and he knew that it was likely he would be charged before long with several murders which he had personally committed and he decided that the only thing to do was to opt for peace."

However, Jo Berry, the daughter of Tory MP Sir Anthony Berry who was killed in the Brighton bombing, said the legacy of Mc Guinness included "reconciliation and peace-building". 

McGuiness and Adams meet Prime Minister Tony Blair prior to Sinn Fein joining the peace process in 1997

 

“Today is a day to really appreciate what [McGuinness] has achieved. His legacy is one of reconciliation and peace-building, which is always going to be messy and difficult after a conflict and despite that, he showed us how to move forward and showed us a way where former enemies can work together for the peace of the whole. What we have now is so much better than what I grew up in. What we have now is peace.”

"He showed us how to move forward and showed us a way where former enemies can work together for the peace of the whole," she said. "What we have now is so much better than what I grew up in. What we have now is peace."

Julie Hambleton, spokeswoman for Justice4the21 campaign group and sister of one of the victims of the Birmingham pub bombings in 1974, told the Birmingham Mail this morning: "I feel sad because here was a man who I believe could have given us so many answers to our questions and the questions of many others who are victims of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

“Yes, McGuinness was part of the peace process but a true statesman and politician would have told what he knew - who killed who and when, and where victims are buried because there are many families of the disappeared over there who have not even had bodies to bury. 

The announcement of his death outside Sinn Fein's headquarters in Belfast

 

“His family have our genuine condolences. We are not evil people. But he has had a full life and has a family, children, grandchildren - how lucky for him. What about my sister, Maxine Hambleton, and Jane Davies and the rest of the 21 who were killed in the pub bombings?"

Meanwhile, the son of the late Ian Paisley - who became friends with McGuinness when they crossed the divide to work together on the peace process in Northern Ireland -  has told the Press Association that it is more important to reflect on McGuinness' latter days advocating peace than his early days in the Provisional IRA. Ian Paisley Jnr, who as a junior minister worked alongside his father and McGuinness, said he had gone from viewing McGuinness as the "godfather of the IRA" to considering him a personal friend.

The North Antrim MP said: "I think the Christian view in life is how a person's journey started is of course important, but it is how it finishes which is actually more important. The journey of Martin McGuinness's life ended in a very different way to what people would have supposed it would have done."

McGuinness was once a man who struck fear into people's hearts in Northern Ireland, Paisley jr said, "yet he became the necessary man in government to deliver a stable and necessary peace, and that's a complex and remarkable journey".