NORTHERN IRELAND REACTION:"IRELAND HAS lost a great Irishman and the world has lost a great citizen," Bob McCartney said yesterday, following the death of Conor Cruise O'Brien, the former Assembly member and leader of the UK Unionist Party (UKUP).
“My thoughts on hearing of his death were, first of all, that Ireland has lost a great Irishman and the world has lost a great citizen,” Mr McCartney said yesterday.
He said Mr O’Brien’s views on Ireland’s future were misunderstood.
“Anyone who said he was not a great Irish nationalist, they were making a mistake.
“He objected to the methods that were being used by the two governments to pressurise unionists, methods that he saw as duress.”
Referring to Dr Cruise O’Brien’s association with the UKUP, Mr McCartney said: “He believed that we were a non-sectarian unionist party that rejected the methods being used to pressurise unionists.
“The world will be a poorer place for his passing.”
SDLP leader Mark Durkan issued a short statement in which he said: “Conor Cruise O’Brien had a varied career and varied political positions.
“His obvious intellect and articulacy did not prevent him being wrong on a number of issues. Some of us have not forgotten his particular vilification of John Hume and the SDLP.
“However, we should also remember more worthy contributions which he made to political life, journalism and UN service.”