Martin McGuiness dies aged 66

[Sarah]

Lots of mixed feelings today over this news - being from Northern Ireland I'm shocked and quite saddened by the news. I don't agree with a lot of what he did, but I do agree that he at least tried to leave the past behind and tried to help the Peace Process.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-39185899

Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness, Northern Ireland's former deputy first minister, has died aged 66.

It is understood he had been suffering from a rare heart condition.

The former IRA leader turned peacemaker worked at the heart of the power-sharing government following the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

He became deputy first minister in 2007, standing alongside Democratic Unionist Party leaders Ian Paisley, Peter Robinson and Arlene Foster.

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams said: "Throughout his life Martin showed great determination, dignity and humility and it was no different during his short illness.

'Historic contribution'
"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."

 

[Alexis]

Almost everyone at Stormont has a questionable past. On both sides! The North of Ireland is unique in it's political situation and very different from England, Scotland and Wales. McGuiness worked very hard at sustaining peace and a positive future for Northern Ireland. He will be remembered for that and the part he played in bringing and maintaining peace.

 

[Sarah]

Agreed. I would have more time for him than that nasty piece of work Foster. At least Martin could move on and try his best - she'll never move on and remains firmly stuck in her bigoted past.

 

[Angela Channing]

Mr McGuinness had an appalling background in terrorism but he later renounced violence and played a key role in the Good Friday agreement which has lead to years of peace in Northern Ireland.

I heard Norman Tebbit on TV today saying he was happy he died and he wished him an "eternity in hell". I feel sorry for Lord Tebbit for the suffering he and his wife went through because of the Brighton bombing by the IRA but I also feel sorry for him because he still has so much hate within him after all this time.

Jo Berry, whose father was a Tory MP who was killed in the Brighton bombing, does not share Tebbit's view. She said today "I value Martin McGuinness as an example of peace and reconciliation" and "it's because people like him have sat down with their enemies that we have peace today." She's right.

 

[Alexis]

Had he not have been involved in the IRA there would be no power sharing executive and no Good Friday agreement and thus no peace. There was a war, lets not pretend there wasn't. I walked streets as a child with British soldiers on foot patrol armed with rifles almost every day. Our executive government and the Good Friday Agreement were brought about because of that war. It took that to happen to have some sense of balance. To have equality in Northern Ireland. The mistreatment and injustices that went on in Northern Ireland were the reasoning for the IRA and their campaign in the 1970s and 80s.

The word terrorist is used by some to describe Martin McGuinness. But I think that's more fitting a word to describe the British paras that fired SLR rifles at unarmed civilians in Martin's native Derry in 1972. There they murdered 14 innocent unarmed people at civil rights rally and injured another 12 with gunshot wounds.

 

[Sarah]

There's terrorists - and then there's terrorists in uniform or who wear suits and ties.

 

[Angela Channing]

There's terrorists - and then there's terrorists in uniform or who wear suits and ties.

And there are people who refused to talk to those they called terrorists knowing that would prolong the violence that existed in Northern Ireland at the time, people such as Thatcher and Tebbit, and there were people that were willing to turn there back on the violence that went before so they could engage in negotiations with those on the other side of the argument, people such as Michael McGuinness.

It clear to me which of those 2 positions lead to the Good Friday agreement and the peace that currently exists in Northern Ireland.