Lord Trimble: former NI First Minister has died
Last updated 26th Jul 2022
Lord David Trimble - a former Northern Ireland First Minister and co-architect of the Good Friday Agreement - has died.
He was 77.
In a statement on behalf of the Trimble family, the Ulster Unionist Party said: "It is with great sadness that the family of Lord Trimble announce that he passed away peacefully earlier today following a short illness."
Lord Trimble and the late John Hume, a founding member of the SDLP, were among the most important figures in the Northern Ireland peace process.
In 1998 - the year of the Good Friday Agreement - they were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Lord Trimble, who was born in Bangor, distinguished himself in an academic career in the law faculty at the Queen's University Belfast before moving into politics.
He initially became involved in the unionist offshoot organisation Vanguard in the early 1970s and while he was best known for his involvement with the Belfast Agreement, in his younger days he had opposed an earlier attempt, the Sunningdale Agreement.
He went on to join the then dominant Ulster Unionist Party in 1978.
It was at the university in 1983 that he heard the IRA's gunshots which killed his fellow law professor and UUP colleague Edgar Graham and later identified the body.
He left academia for politics full time when he was elected as MP for Upper Bann following a by election in 1990 after the death of the incumbent Harold McCusker.
Lord Trimble rose to prominence partly due to the Drumcree dispute as nationalist residents opposed the procession of an orange parade along the Garvaghy Road.
He led the parade along the road in 1995, famously joining hands with Democratic Unionist leader Ian Paisley.
UUP leader Doug Beattie paid tribute to Lord Trimble saying his death would cause "deep sadness" throughout Northern Ireland and much further afield.
Mr Beattie said: "David Trimble was a man of courage and vision. He chose to grasp the opportunity for peace when it presented itself and sought to end the decades of violence that blighted his beloved Northern Ireland.
"He will forever be associated with the leadership he demonstrated in the negotiations that led up to the 1998 Belfast Agreement.
"The bravery and courage he demonstrated whilst battling his recent illness was typical of the qualities he showed in his political career, at Stormont and at Westminster.
"He will be remembered as a First Minister, as a peer of the realm and as a Nobel Prize winner. He will also be remembered as a great Unionist.
"On behalf of the Ulster Unionist Party, and with a very heavy heart, I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to his wife Lady Trimble and his children, Richard, Victoria, Sarah and Nicholas."
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood paid tribute to David Trimble saying he had left an "indelible mark on our shared island's story" and that without him there would not have been a Good Friday Agreement.
The Foyle MP said: "Over the course of his political career but particularly in difficult years of the Good Friday Agreement negotiations he demonstrated immense courage and took political risks that sustained the life of our fledgling peace process.
"He doesn't often enough get credit for it but without David Trimble's fortitude, there would simply have been no agreement.
"The image of David and Seamus Mallon walking through Poyntzpass together in 1998 to comfort the families of Damien Trainor and Philip Allen is an enduring icon of the peace process that inspired a whole generation of people who wanted, and needed, to believe that our shared future could be different from our divided past.
"It is my enduring memory of his commitment to reconciliation.
"My thoughts and prayers are with Daphne, Richard, Victoria, Nicholas and Sarah at this difficult time. I hope they are comforted by the immense legacy that David left to the people of Northern Ireland."
TUV leader Jim Allister said: "I am greatly saddened to learn of the passing of Lord David Trimble and wish to express to Lady Trimble and the family sincere condolences.
"Though politically we fundamentally disagreed over the Belfast Agreement, latterly as joint applicants in the Judicial Review challenge to the Protocol we shared a common determination to rid Northern Ireland of this iniquitous assault on our constitutional position.
"David had a very clear and correct view of the dangers and unacceptability of the Protocol.
"I have known David and Daphne Trimble since my university days when David was one of my lecturers and Daphne was a fellow student in my law year. As a couple throughout their married life Daphne gave exemplary support to David and in his declining health was a tower of strength to him. So, in losing David, Daphne has suffered a great loss and Northern Ireland has lost a foremost thinker within unionism."