Bill Clinton hails David Trimble for helping to bring peace to Northern Ireland
David Trimble and John Hume at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo in December 1998. Picture RollingNews.ie
Former US President Bill Clinton has led tributes to David Trimble, stating that his “lifetime of service” helped bring peace to Northern Ireland.
In a statement, Mr Clinton said: “Hillary and I are deeply saddened by the passing of David Trimble, a leader of courage, vision, and principle whose lifetime of service helped bring peace to Northern Ireland.
“Time after time during the negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreement, he made the hard choices over the politically expedient ones because he believed future generations deserved to grow up free from violence and hatred.
“His faith in the democratic process allowed him to stand up to strong opposition in his own community, persuade them of the merits of compromise, and share power with his former adversaries.
“His legacy will endure in all who are living better lives because of him today.
“Hillary and I send our thoughts and prayers to his wife, Daphne, his entire family, and all the people who loved him and were inspired by his service.”
Tributes from across the political divide have been paid to the Nobel Prize winner and one of the key architects of the Good Friday Agreement, who passed away aged 77 on Monday.
Mr Trimble's family issued a statement today announcing that the former First Minister of Northern Ireland, and former Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader had passed away following a short illness.
Leading the condolences, President Michael D Higgins said the long-serving politician will be remembered for “a life of public service, and of course for his most significant contribution to the work for peace on our island”.
“David Trimble’s dedication and courage, often during the most challenging times, has earned him a distinguished and deserved place in our history books. His work leaves a true legacy on the necessity and value of peace on our shared island for future generations,” President Higgins said.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin also paid tributes to the Unionist politician, remembering the “crucial and courageous role” he played in “bringing people with him on the journey to the Good Friday Agreement”.
In jointly accepting the Noble Peace Prize with John Hume in 1998, Mr Trimble spoke of the ‘politicians of the possible’, a phrase which Mr Martin said “sums up the David Trimble we all knew, and it speaks to his achievements over many decades, often in challenging circumstances.”
Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern remembered Mr Trimble as being “as tough as teeth” in standing up for what he believed in during peace talks.
“I had many a row, many arguments with him, and in more recent years we had great laughs about those debates,” Mr Ahern said.
“As a good negotiator I think when you made a deal, he settled on it, and in spite of the horrendous problems that he was under from within his own party and from outside the wider unionist group in that last week of the Good Friday Agreement, he stuck by it and he stuck by it subsequently. He he paid a price, he lost seat in Upper Bann, he got a lot of criticism from the wider unionist family, but I have great admiration for him.”
Born in Co Down, Trimble had a distinguished career in academia, rising to senior positions in the Law Faculty at Queen’s University Belfast. He opposed the Sunningdale Agreement and at the height of the Drumcree March controversy he walked hand-in-hand down the nationalist Garvaghy Road with Ian Paisley.
But as SDLP leader Colum Eastwood remarked, he will also be remembered for more conciliatory gestures. “The image of David and Seamus Mallon walking through Poyntzpass together in 1998 to comfort the families of Damien Trainor and Philip Allen [shot dead by a Loyalist killer] is an enduring icon of the peace process that inspired a whole generation of people who wanted, and needed, to believe that our shared future could be different from our divided past.”
Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill offered her sincere condolences to his wife Daphne, their four children and wider family circle who will feel his loss deeply.
“David Trimble’s very significant contribution to the peace process and his courage in helping achieve the Good Friday Agreement leaves a legacy a quarter century on which he and his family can be rightly proud of,” she said.
The current UUP leader Doug Beattie has paid tribute to Mr Trimble as a man of "courage and vision."
He said: “Tonight’s news will cause deep sadness throughout Northern Ireland and much further afield.
“David Trimble was a man of courage and vision. He chose to grasp the opportunity for peace when it presented itself and sought to end the decades of violence that blighted his beloved Northern Ireland.
“He will forever be associated with the leadership he demonstrated in the negotiations that led up to the 1998 Belfast Agreement.
“The bravery and courage he demonstrated whilst battling his recent illness was typical of the qualities he showed in his political career, at Stormont and at Westminster.
“He will be remembered as a First Minister, as a Peer of the Realm and as a Nobel Prize Winner. He will also be remembered as a great Unionist.
“On behalf of the Ulster Unionist Party, and with a very heavy heart, I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to his wife Lady Trimble and his children, Richard, Victoria, Sarah and Nicholas.”
Former UUP leader Mike Nesbitt said that he was "so very sad" to hear of Mr Trimble's death.
"I have interacted with him since the 1980s and knew him to be a man who was prepared to put peace and the people before party interests. We would not be where we are without his leadership," he said.
Alastair Campbell, who was a key advisor to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair during the Troubles, said that the Good Friday Agreement "would not have happened" without Mr Trimble.
"He showed enormous personal courage at key moments, his commitment to the people he represented always at the heart of his motivations. He has a legacy his family can be proud of in their grief. Those in power today owe it to that legacy to handle it with care and commitment," he said.
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