Tributes paid as former Sinn Féin general secretary Rita O’Hare dies aged 80

Then Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams (right) and the party’s then North America representative and general secretary Rita O’Hare met then president-elect Barack Obama in Washington (PA)

Veteran republican Rita O’Hare has died at the age of 80.

The Belfast-born activist, who was involved in the early civil rights movement in Northern Ireland, became one of the most high-profile on-the-run republicans during the Troubles, fleeing the region in 1972 having been arrested and bailed in connection with the attempted murder of a soldier.