Praise for Kennedy's 'huge contribution' to peace process

Senator Edward Kennedy made the single greatest contribution of any American to helping resolve the North problem, a prominent politician said today.

The Kennedy family announced in a brief statement early today that the 77-year-old Senator, who was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour last year, had died.

Alex Attwood, a Social Democratic and Labour Party member of the Stormont Assembly, said: “I think his death is a great loss.”

The West Belfast MLA added: “He made a huge contribution to the North, the single greatest contribution of any American politician of recent times - including Clinton.”

He said he had been fortunate to have met Senator Kennedy twice, most recently in 2005.

“The last time he was already failed but he still had a grasp of what was going on in Ireland, and not just broad brush strokes,” he said.

“He was all of the thinks you expected a Kennedy to be, he had great charm and enormous insight.”