North’s peacemaker priest Fr Alec Reid dies in Dublin

Fr Alec Reid, who was a pivotal figure during the emerging peace process in Northern Ireland, died yesterday.

Fr Reid has been described as a "pillar of the peace process" by Nobel Laureate and former SDLP leader John Hume and "chaplain of the peace process" by Gerry Adams.

He developed political contacts with both the Irish and British governments during key points in the early peace process, and also with the IRA.

Born in Dublin, but Tipperary raised, he died "peacefully" in a Dublin hospital at 6.40 am, his Redemptorist Order announced. "We extend our deepest sympathy to his family, friends and those who got to know him as a Redemptorist in the various roles and ministries he held. He will be especially remembered for his work in the Northern Ireland peace process," the Order said in a statement.

Fr Reid played a key part in facilitating the talks in 1988 between the SDLP leader John Hume and the Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams which, over time and despite several setbacks, created the conditions for the subsequent IRA ceasefire of 1994. It was this protracted process that led to the Belfast Agreement of 1998, and onward to Stormont powersharing.

His funeral Mass will be celebrated in Clonard Monastery in west Belfast on Wednesday, the venue for much of the Hume-Adams talks and for other secret peace process negotiations.

Fr Reid, had long worked with republicans in the Maze prison and had once intervened in the hunger strikes of 1981 which left Bobby Sands and nine others dead.

However he only came to public prominence during one of the most shocking incidents of the Troubles in Belfast in March 1988.

Photographers captured him praying over one of the two British army plainclothes corporals, David Howes and Derek Wood, who were killed when they drove into the funeral of Caoimhín Mac Brádaigh, one of three people shot dead three days earlier by loyalist Michael Stone in Milltown cemeteryoff the Falls Road.

Stone had launched his gun and grenade attack during the funerals in Milltown Cemetery of the so-called Gibraltar Three - three unarmed members of the IRA who were shot dead by the SAS in Gibraltar less than two weeks earlier.

The soldiers were dragged from their car and beaten by the crowd and later shot dead on waste ground near Casement Park by the IRA. The image of Fr Reid praying over the stripped soldier stretched out in crucified form became one of the most powerful and harrowing images of the Troubles.

In a BBC documentary earlier this year marking the 25th anniversary of that period of killings he recalled, “When I was lying between the two soldiers, I remember saying to myself ‘this shouldn’t be happening in a civilised society’. That motivated me or encouraged me to keep trying to get away from this kind of society where this kind of thing could happen.”

Fr Reid revealed on the same programme, 14 Days that even amid the horror there was some hope as at the time he was carrying correspondence between Mr Adams and Mr Hume, as part of a failed attempt in 1988 to generate movement towards peace. These initial exchanges helped created the conditions for the successful talks in the early 1990s.

Fr Reid tried to keep a low profile despite his peace process work. He became embroiled in controversy in October 1995 when being baited by Protestant victims' campaigner Willie Frazer he said that the unionist community had treated Catholics in the same way as the "Nazis treated the Jews" - a remark for which he subsequently apologised.

Fr Reid also worked behind the scenes to try to persuade to IRA to provide more information on where the bodies of the Disappeared were buried.

Public representatives and clergy have been quick to praise his efforts. Tribute have been made by the Presbyterian Moderator Dr Bob Craig said: "Without doubt he was a key influencer in bringing about the ceasefires and promoting an inclusive democratic peace process. For that we owe him an enormous debt of gratitude."

The Rev Harold Good, who along with Fr Reid oversaw IRA weapons decommissioning in 2005, said: ""One of the things about Alec was he refused to give up.

“When people tried to close doors on him he would gently put his foot in that door so that it didn’t close. He would go back, often uninvited to places he was less welcome, and he just refused to give in or give up.”

Fr Reid has also been praised by President Michael D Higgins, Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore, Nobel peace prize winner John Hume, and Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams.

President Higgins credited Fr Reid with "identifying and nurturing the early seeds of an inclusive peace process" while Mr Kenny said he always demonstrated "deep respect for human dignity and life".

Stormont First Minister Peter Robinson said: "Alec opposed violence and understood that the key to making progress was through reaching out to others regardless of their background."

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said his contribution to the peace process was “immeasurable”.

Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt said Fr Reid "managed to command the attention of key politicians and civic leaders at a time when Northern Ireland was rocking from a series of brutal atrocities".

Fr Reid’s remains will repose at Marianella Chapel, 75 Orwell Road, Dublin 6 tomorrow from 2pm - 8pm and on Sunday from 1pm - 8pm. Mass will be held in the chapel at 11 am on Monday after which his remains will be taken to Clonard. An ecumenical Service of Gratitude for Fr Reid’s life and ministry will take place at 7.30 pm in Clonard Church. His funeral Mass will be at 12 noon in Clonard Church on Wednesday.