Northern Irish Reaction:NATIONALISTS HAVE praised the role played by Senator Ted Kennedy in the peace process.
Unionists said he gradually shifted his nationalist sympathies to the point where he recognised the legitimacy of their position.
Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey said Senator Kennedy had been “a figure of hostility” as far as unionists were concerned in the early years of the Troubles.
“Over time he realised, as did many of his colleagues, the catastrophe that IRA violence was visiting on this country and the damage it was doing.” UUP deputy leader Danny Kennedy went further, adding: “Since the mid-1990s it became clear that Senator Kennedy had embarked upon a new journey, which eventually led him to an acceptance of unionist opinions, rights and constitutional status. And in that acceptance he also deployed his very considerable influence within Irish-American politics and on Sinn Féin to accept the Belfast Agreement and come to terms with the existence of Northern Ireland.
“As a unionist I do not underestimate the part he played at a crucial time in the process that led to the 1998 agreement.”
DUP Assembly member Peter Weir said Senator Kennedy’s early role in Northern Ireland was “far from positive”. But he added: “Latterly he came to recognise the validity of the unionist argument and the reality of partition: he went as far as snubbing republican political representatives over their failure to come up to the democratic standards set by the DUP and accepted an honorary knighthood from Her Majesty the Queen. In his long political career he travelled quite a distance.”
Alliance leader David Ford said: “He was an iconic figure for progressive politics in the United States and had a proud record of promoting liberal courses.
“He helped to widen the vision of Irish Americans to the realities of Northern Ireland and will be remembered for the part he played in peace process.”
Nationalists were unequivocal in their praise. Former SDLP leader John Hume, a close personal friend, said simply: “Senator Kennedy was an outstanding supporter of our peace process. His commitment to Ireland was strong and positive while peace and justice was always at the top of his agenda.”
Mark Durkan, an intern in Senator Kennedy’s office in 1985, said: “It was his actions which lead to the breakthrough with Sinn Féin and the IRA which led them to make the decisive and definitive changes that up to then they had avoided and which ultimately contributed to the settled process we have today.”
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said: “He has served the American people with courage and commitment for nearly 50 years. His service to Ireland through his role in the peace process was exceptional and contributed significantly to its progress.
Bishop Séamus Hegarty, Bishop of Derry and chair of the Irish Episcopal Council for Emigrants said: “The Irish immigrant community in the United States has lost a very strong advocate for justice. Among his many works, his efforts in seeking to enact comprehensive immigration reform made the wider public aware of the plight of immigrants and of Irish immigrants in particular.”
Northern Secretary Shaun Woodward said Mr Kennedy was a true and constant friend of the peace process and that his huge influence could not be over estimated.
“In every sense he was an immense figure whose part in transforming Northern Ireland will be a lasting memorial.”