Cardinal’s efforts to end Troubles remembered

POLITICIANS and church leaders have paid tribute to the efforts of Cardinal Cahal Daly in helping end the Troubles.

The 92-year-old retired cleric died in Belfast City Hospital on Thursday where he was being treated having fallen seriously ill.

Cardinal Daly had been Catholic Primate of all Ireland from 1990 until 1996 and was praised for helping to build the peace process and improve community relations in the North.

The current Catholic Primate, Cardinal Sean Brady led tributes to his predecessor.

“It is difficult to do full justice to the significance and achievements of his long, full and happy life.

“But I believe, when fully assessed and appreciated, the legacy of Cardinal Cahal Daly to the ecclesiastical and civil history of Ireland will be seen as immense.”

Cardinal Daly’s term in office was a period of history dominated by the violence of the Troubles.

He had served as bishop in the Down and Connor area from the early 1980s, a diocese which includes Belfast, and he became closely associated with both religious and political issues.

The Antrim-born churchman took on the post of Catholic Primate at the age of 73 and was a surprise choice for the position.

Presbyterian Moderator Dr Stafford Carson said Cardinal Daly’s Antrim roots, “gave him a deep understanding of the essential part that Presbyterians have played in the history of our community, something he was always happy to explain to others”.

“Completely and totally opposed to violence, he was an outspoken critic of the armed campaign of the IRA and recognised that any future arrangements for the governance of Northern Ireland had to involve unionist and nationalist, Protestant and Catholic in order to create a community in which everyone could feel at home.”

Sinn Féin’s Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said: “It is no secret during the conflict that republicans and Cardinal Daly never enjoyed a close relationship.

“However in the course of recent years I met with him on numerous occasions all of which were friendly and warm encounters.

“So it was with genuine sadness that I learnt of his passing at hospital in Belfast. I would wish to extend my condolences to Cardinal Daly’s family, friends and colleagues within the Church at this sad time.”

Former British prime minister Tony Blair, who played a pivotal role in bringing about the Good Friday peace agreement in Northern Ireland in 1998, praised the Cardinal’s contribution to ending the violence of the Troubles.

“Cardinal Daly’s death is a real loss to the people of Ireland. He made a significant contribution to delivering peace as he worked to break down barriers between communities.”

The cardinal’s remains will arrive at St Peter’s Cathedral in west Belfast at noon today.

On Sunday they will be brought to St Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh, Ireland’s ecclesiastical capital, where the funeral Mass will be on Tuesday at noon.