Press Releases21 Mar 17

Statement from the Archbishop of Armagh on the death of former Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness

From The Most Revd Dr Richard Clarke, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland:

I express my sincere sympathy to Martin McGuinness’s wife, family and friends on the news of his death.

Martin McGuinness’s adult life was in so many ways one of two very distinct halves, and most of us have great difficulty in connecting the two. That having been said (and it must be said), while recognising the hurt, fear and misery brought into hundreds of other lives in the first part of that life, we should also convey proper appreciation of the immense statesmanlike qualities that Martin McGuinness brought into the political life of Northern Ireland in recent years. He displayed both real courage and a genuine openness to those of different political viewpoints from his own.