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A STRAIGHT-TALKING colossus of Irish politics, Seamus Mallon devoted his life to securing peace and justice for the island he loved.
Mallon, from south Armagh, was a towering figure in the political generation which delivered an end to the Northern Ireland Troubles.
While SDLP leader and Nobel Laureate John Hume has been hailed as an architect of the Good Friday Agreement, his long-standing deputy leader was one of its engineers – a man whose determination helped build the power sharing structures from the ground up.
In a customary blunt assessment, he famously described the April 1998 deal as “Sunningdale for slow learners” – a reference to an ill-fated peace settlement of the 1970s.
For Mallon, the Good Friday Agreement not only symbolised hope for the future, but also the futility of decades of sectarian bloodshed that had gone before.
After the signing of the accord, Mallon would go on to become nationalism’s leading figure in the new coalition government, as Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister.
His partnership with Ulster Unionist first minister David Trimble was the manifestation of the region’s new beginning.
Known as the “odd couple”, their relationship was at times turbulent – both resigned and were reappointed at different junctures – but they nevertheless developed deep respect for each other.
Explaining the journey they travelled together in those stormy years when Northern Ireland edged out of the darkness, both would point to an atrocity weeks before the deal was signed.
Philip Allen, a Protestant, and Damien Trainor, a Catholic, were shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries in the Railway Bar in Poyntzpass in Co Armagh on 3 March, 1998.
Trimble and Mallon both travelled independently to console the bereaved families.
Meeting on a doorstep of one the houses, they walked together to the next.
It was a powerful show of solidarity amid the tense negotiations that would ultimately bring peace.
“It certainly strengthened my resolve about getting an agreement,” Mallon told the PA news agency on the 20th anniversary of the 1998 deal.
“The symbolism of David Trimble and myself together was a stark reminder for ourselves and for everyone else that what we were involved in, in the talks, was essentially to prevent that ever happening again.”
Trimble visited the beside of his former partner-in-government days before he died at the age of 83.
Born in Markethill in 1936, Mallon began his working life as a primary school teacher and headmaster.
He was a combative GAA player who had a passion for many other sports.
Angered by state discrimination against Catholics, Mallon became a prominent figure in the civil rights movement of the late 1960s. He would go on to join the SDLP, elected as a councillor in 1973.
He would rise to the position of deputy leader in 1979 – a point at which his career would forever be entwined with newly appointed party leader Hume.
There was often tension at the heart of the Hume/Mallon axis, never more so than when the leader failed to tell his deputy about his secret talks with Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams – discussions that effectively marked the start of the peace process.
But they nevertheless formed a formidable duo – men whose unstinting abhorrence of violence drove them in relentless pursuit of peace.
Mallon served briefly as an Irish senator in the early 1980s and, after a number of unsuccessful attempts to win a Westminster seat, he became MP for Newry and Armagh in 1986.
Always outspoken, he was at times a vociferous critic of the conduct of the security forces. He also never baulked at calling out IRA brutality.
His views brought death threats and saw petrol bombers target his home. But he continued to speak out, undeterred.
Famed for his stubbornness and acerbic wit, Mallon was never one to fall into line.
At an event at Queen’s University in Belfast to mark the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, he was offered the chance to reflect on his role in making history.
Jarring with the congratulatory comments of those counterparts who had walked to the microphones before him, the 81-year-old Mallon was in no mood to dwell on past achievements.
He instead used a rare return to the public spotlight to launch a blistering attack on the DUP and Sinn Fein, the two parties central to the collapse of the institutions he had spent a life constructing.
“Am I sad? Yes. Am I angry? Yes, very angry,” said the visibly-frail former statesman.
“Especially when I watch television sitting in my house, just me and the dog, and I watch the hypocrisies which are unbelievable and the untruths which are believable.
“Politics has been debased and diminished by these two political silos which have almost Balkanised the Northern Ireland that I live in.
“It is the future we should be looking at.”
It was typically Mallon. Unflinching to the end.
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Still makes my blood boil even after 2 weeks and for that cretin Drumm to apologise for bad language is adding to insult. Try apologising for the shi*e storm you went a long way to starting Drumm and then you can get on the next flight home and face the consequences of your gluttony.
What makes my blood boil is our sad excuses of politicians have done nothing and will do nothing. There will be no consequences for those who caused this problem as there is no political appetite to hold those in authority to account.
kerry a lot of the decent people in this country will agree with you ,the problem is the politicians have never listened to the people ,the time has come to elect ones that will listen and not the vermin that we have.
The whole reason there’s been no action from the politicians on this is because they are up to their necks in it too. We didn’t just bail out Anglo you know. They are afraid to put the Anglo execs in the dock for fear of them bringing down the corrupt gangsters that ran the country then and now. Anglo was never a bank, it was a property hedge fund that lent to 25-30 developers. Why does a Govt need to bail out a hedge fund?
This type of old school arrogance is still prevalent in Irish banks, It can be seen with the refusal to pass on interest rate reductions to help the small person, And the new heavy handed repossessions culture backed by a so called the legal elite. You can be sure there will be no tapes in the future a new rule will come into place to erase everything after a month just wait and see.
@ Ucant, sadly, absolutely true.
They would love to have an Oireachtas investigation, personaly speaking I think politicians should be kept away from this. An international investigation lead by maybe a Judge from Iceland and an honest men like Stephen Donnelly and Dave Hall as abservers would be acceptable.
Why Iceland? And why Stephen Donnelly? Should observers not be independent also? Stephen Donnelly wouldn’t be independent considering the fact that he’s trying to fund a court case over the issue of banking guarantees. (Am I thinking of the right fellow?)
100% agree Thomas… No politician should left near this. FG/FF are too involved in the banks to be impartial and fair.
Enda Kenny knew about these tapes and kmows alot more but his dictatorship and propaganda machine is not releasing any info. Enda Kenny and company are as bad as the banks and anyone who thinks Enda didn’t know or Probably hear the tapea prior to the leak is either dumb or has fallen for the propaganda.
They were leaked now for political gain, fg couldnt help notice that ff were passing them in the polls, not to mention that by leaking them it hampers and criminal investigation (which was thoroughly stalled btw) on the off chance that senior bondholder noonan might have to find his wallet
Irish people are not apathetic. They care. The proble, is that Irish people are conformist, conventional, conservative and complaint. The Irish deserve their fate. The Irish are a shower of cs. That is our nature, with a few exceptions, and so that will be our fate.
The problem is not just that of a few cowboy bankers. The problem is much wider, much more ingrained and far more difficult to eradicate.
By all means put the bankers in the stocks. Obsess with them all you want. The Government will be delighted because that is a venting distraction and stil leaves the people compliant and supine.
A servile nation deserves no better. On your knees and stay there. Nothing will change. Moan and crib all you want. That will change nothing. You know it, but still you are content to whine about a few greedy and reckless bankers.
Yes a few sheeple did raise their heads, briefly, but mistaking the wolf for the shepherd they carried on believing there was no danger. For several years now every new revelation, in this sorry saga, would be the one to break the camels back or create such an outrage among the general population that a punch drunk citizenry would begin an heroic fightback……. No, nada, zilch, sfa! This must be the most apathetic nation under the sun! Incredible really.
My blood is boiling, and it isn’t because I’m in the vacuum of space.
I’ll vent my frustration at the demonstration on Dame Street today (Saturday the 6th), Central Bank Plaza, 2 to 5 or 6pm
If I don’t, I’m gonna blow a fifty amp fuse.
Hope to see you there. Yes, you.
Feck!
“My blood is boiling, and it isn’t because I’m in the vacuum of space.”
Just spat coffee on a white macbook, thanks Seamus.
Ah sure thats old news now….Its all about the goings on in Egypt now isn’t it????????Sheep
On two other articles, I noticed that 90% of those posting comments were enthusiastically and vigorously in favour of the banks repossession policy. This shows to me that criticism of the bankers is a superficial emotional reaction.
We criticise the bankers but most of us support the bankers’ campaign of repossession. We support that campaign even though it will crystallise the mortgage impairments, accelerate the insolvency if the banks and force the massive cost a second bank bail out on the ordinary taxpayer.
Criticism of the bankers is hypocrisy.
There is business and there is fraud.
The problem is the bakers married the two.
‘with the political correspondent coming out on top ‘, eh? no he didnt, he made an utter moron out of himself
The politicians are not the problem, the bankers are not the problem. THE PEOPLE ARE THE PROBLEM.
Bankers are nasty in other countries, politicians become arrogant and lost in a bubble in others.
The people though demand that they be held to account and that the law is applied to them.
People here do not do that. David Drumm, Sean Fitzpatrick, Bertie, Haughey, Micheal Martin, John Bowe etc it is the people/electorate who are letting them off and giving no sign of wanting anything but the current situation to continue.
Sunday Independent deserves to be ridiculed and spoken of with contempt. Irish Indo is only marginally better.
A paper full of stories with anonymous quotes and Fianna Failures like O’Dea and Bertie’s ex Larking. Less News than the Sunday World.
The underlying situation is that the majority of people in Ireland are still getting by. Lets be honest. Most of us are reading this off an iPhone or an iPad. Both luxury items. Yes we will give out, complain, post comments on social networking sites and even be astounded by the carry on of politicians and bankers. But the majority are not going hungry. So we will continue to absorb the Bulls**t being thrown at us. And until a time comes that the majority of people hit breaking point in Ireland ie. cannot top up there mobile phone accounts, cannot get out for a few pints on a Friday night, cannot order a Chinese when they want, cannot go to Spain for a cheap week, “the important stuff” etc etc you will not see an iota of unrest.
The Irish Attitude
” ah sure them bankers and politicians are all the same ”
Negative equity, mortgage arrears, property taxes, corrupt politicians, criminal bankers, bank bailouts, more bank bailouts, illegal house repossessions, legal house repossessions, evictions, job losses, suicide etc etc “sure we can’t do anything about it”
Take away your basics ie. mobile phones, sky sports, the car, the holiday, the few pints, the round of golf, the hair, nails and make up ” now that’s a different story altogether”
What these tapes mean; is our spineless polititions will finally get the fingure out and do something as its not only irish people who are disguted but the germans. And they sure as hell wont be ignored by our cretin politicos
The politicians are not the problem, the bankers are not the problem. THE PEOPLE ARE THE PROBLEM.
Bankers are nasty in other countries, politicians become arrogant and lost in a bubble in others.
The people though demand that they be held to account and that the law is applied to them.
People here do not do that. David Drumm, Sean Fitzpatrick, Bertie, Haughey, Micheal Martin, John Bowe etc it is the people/electorate who are letting them off and giving no sign of wanting anything but.
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