SIR OLIVER NAPIER, one of the founders and the first leader of the Alliance Party who has died aged 75, was described by the current party leader David Ford as a statesman and a visionary.
For many years Sir Oliver, who died on Saturday, was viewed as the Alliance politician who came closest to winning the party’s first Westminster seat.
He was involved in a famous three-way battle in East Belfast in 1979 when, with almost 30 per cent of the vote, he narrowly failed to take a seat. A Catholic in such a predominantly unionist constituency, he was just over 900 votes behind Peter Robinson who took East Belfast 64 votes ahead of the Ulster Unionist William Craig.
Thirty-one years later, Sir Oliver gained great satisfaction in seeing his party colleague Naomi Long win the party’s first House of Commons seat, taking East Belfast from Peter Robinson.
Alliance was formed in 1970 and he was its first leader, from 1973 until 1984. The party, which aimed to be a centrist force uniting Protestants and Catholics, came into being as the Troubles were beginning.
A proponent of powersharing he was an Alliance minister in the short-lived 1974 Sunningdale government which collapsed in the face of loyalist protests and loyalist and republican violence that year.
He was educated in St Malachy’s College in north Belfast and at Queen’s University where he obtained a law degree before entering his father’s practice, Napier and Sons, in Belfast. He was knighted in 1985. He is survived by his wife Briege, nine children and 23 grandchildren.
Alliance leader David Ford said Sir Oliver inspired him to join the party. “Oliver was a statesman and a visionary,” he said.
“His vision was of a united Northern Ireland and he put his heart and soul into bringing that about. He was ahead of his time but the vision he had is demonstrated in all the excellent work being done to improve community relations in Northern Ireland.”
He added: “He will be remembered as a great political leader, as a tireless servant of East Belfast and as the man who built the Alliance Party. I know he took great delight in being able to support Naomi Long when she was elected MP for East Belfast last year and in seeing two Alliance Ministers in the current Executive.”
Former Alliance leader Lord Alderdice said Sir Oliver was possessed of a steely courage, sharp political acumen, unflinching integrity and an absolute commitment to liberal values and the cause of peace in Ireland.
“He was the inspiration for the Alliance Party for a generation and played a key role, not only in the politics of the 1970s and 1980s in Northern Ireland, but right up to the signing of the Belfast Agreement in 1998,” he said.
John Paul Napier in a statement said his father was not a man to take the easy road.
“Despite personal attacks on himself and his family, including being burnt out of his home, he believed in justice and fair play and that if Northern Ireland was going to create a new society of tolerance and mutual respect then it was incumbent upon us all to stand up and be counted,” he said.
Mr Napier said his father’s “crowning political achievement was the Sunningdale agreement” and he felt its collapse was a major setback which cost thousands of people their lives.
“It was therefore with great joy that he welcomed the Good Friday Agreement, as the successor to Sunningdale, and was particularly pleased that the Alliance Party was able to play an active role.”
Tributes were also paid by Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin and Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams.