Lord Trimble, Northern Ireland’s first First Minister and co-architect of the Good Friday Agreement, has died aged 77.
“It is with great sadness that Lord Trimble’s family announce that he passed away peacefully earlier today after a short illness,” it said in a statement.
His tough stance on the controversial Orange Order parades in the 1990s won him the leadership of the Ulster Unionist Party.
But David Trimble was the unionist who dared to compromise and led his party to the negotiating table at Stormont.
Bertie Ahern, former Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), said: “I think history will remember him as a politician who, at a really difficult time when we were trying to end 30 years of violence, against all odds, stood up and put the name you are in this agreement.
“It allowed us to bring peace to Northern Ireland and allowed us to move forward.”
Their contributions to the peace process earned David Trimble and fellow nationalist John Hume the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize.
Read more: Irish PM Michael Martin says UK doesn’t ‘fully get’ Good Friday Agreement
He was the first person to be elected First Minister of Northern Ireland, holding the post from 1998 to 2002.
But the rise of Sinn Fein, before the IRA decommissioned weapons, forced him to take another leap of faith.
“We’ve done our job,” he declared in November 1999, “Mr. Adams, it’s over for you. We jumped, you follow us.’
Image: Lord David Trimble with US President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Tony Blair in Belfast in 2000.
David Kerr was David Trimble’s press secretary during those turbulent days in Stormont politics and knew him better than most.
He said: “I believe history will be kind to David Trimble.
“I think when historians look back objectively with a longer perspective on the time frame of things that happened before and after the Good Friday Agreement, I think they will understand the key role it played in transforming politics here.”
He incurred the wrath of anti-agreement unionists, eventually losing his Upper Bann seat at Westminster to the Democratic Unionist Party.
Elevated to the Lords, David Trimble never regretted the compromise, describing the Good Friday Agreement as his greatest achievement.
In a recent interview with Sky News, he said: “This was the first time we had an agreement within Northern Ireland’s political parties that was accepted by all of them.
“It created a situation where we could proceed in a context where you might have disagreements.”
A lawyer, academic and statesman, David Trimble will be remembered for his ability to see what others could not, the potential for lasting peace.
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