Martin McGuinness – The Man I Knew
Compiled by Jude Collins
Mercier Press p/b £14.99
Twentyseven witnesses from each side of the Atlantic, of the Irish Sea, Britain’s Border in Ireland,
spanning also political, denominational social and cultural divides contributed to this compilation.
They included Senator George Mitchell and Congressman Peter King in the US, Unionist and Fianna
Fail politicians, Irish and UK Civil Servants, a Presbyterian clergyman, former IRA colleagues and
former enemies, and Derry neighbours who knew him all his life. They all had some good to say
about him.
There are no comments from Fine Gael, Irish Labour, SDLP or “STICKIE” commentators and there
may be a gap in the market for an opportunist hack.
All commentators are agreed that, in big things and small things, McGuinness kept his promises
without needing reminding, and that he was courteous and considerate in his dealings with them.
As a Minister he quickly earned the respect of his civil servants, none of whom came from a nationalist,
much less a republican tradition, and they came to regret his resignation and mourn his death.
Eileen Paisley recalled the close friendship which developed between her late husband and McGuinness,
and how following Ian’s death she and Martin kept in touch.She remarked on a quietness and shyness
about Martin, qualities apparent when he shook myself by the hand on my one meeting with him.
(He’d shake hands with anyone. The previous day he’d done so with Queen Elizabeth.) The Rev. David
Latimer recalls the intimate friendship that developed between McGuinness and himself when he
was Minister of a Presbyterian Church in Derry which had been daubed with paint. McGuinness visited
Latimer and used his influence to ensure such outrages were not repeated.
Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s chief-of -staff, was very hostile to McGuinness at first, but grew to like
him. When Adams and McGuinness first met Tony Blair in Downing Street in 1997, Blair immediately
shook hands with them, but Powell and Blair’s spin doctor, Alasdair Campbell, pointedly remained the far
side of the table and held aloof from “the terrorists.” Powell displays shock/horror at the “untrue
assertions” he says were made by the republicans, particularly Adams. Powell had worked in the British
embassy in Washington, coordinating the failed attempt to dissuade President Clinton from obtaining a
visa for Irish-passport holder Gerry Adams, which Taoiseach Albert Reynolds was pursuing for him in
furtherance of peace. Sir Simon Jenkins, former Editor of THE TIMES, was roped in to brief White House
staff with the blatant lie that the IRA had killed “3,000 Britons” since 1969. Could Powell and/or Campbell
have feared that “dishonest” republicans were looking for their jobs?
A few of those interviewed appear to think that Martin McGuinness set out on an evil career but, like
St Paul had a Damascene conversion. But it appears that there was no change in McGuinness’s character, and that
he used the tactics of armed resistance when it appeared necessary and peaceful tactics when conditions no
longer justified force. His family had no republican tradition and he had no romantic yearning for battle or
foreign travel. In fact he was rooted in Derry and slept there nearly every night, if he had to travel a hundred
miles to do so. His family and near neigbours were dearest to his heart. Fishing in Donegal was a lifelong hobby.
He didn’t seek a national or world stage, unlike Sir Bob Geldof who proclaimed his vocation –“to get rich, famous
and laid.” And McGuinness left, I’m sure, his proudest joy, a devoted and loving family.
As a youth I was a Sunday Soldier and a Summer Patriot who used spend two weeks a year in camp with
An Forsa Cosanta Aitiuil (FCA) our Republican Territorials. From what his IRA associates say about Mc Guinness,
he did not pontificate about tactics, but would listen to suggestions, and, without belittling those he led,
ask if another course would achieve better results. I remember once in Summer Camp being detailed to
do clerical work, because I was a clerk the rest of the year. A poor corporal didn’t question any orders, but
I hadn’t brought a pen with me and our Regular Army Training Officer sneered at me “Some clerk, no pen.”
One didn’t answer back. Officers wore superfine tailored uniforms and Sam Browne belts, other ranks wore
frieze or “Bull’s Wool” which chafed, as in Black Adder. An FCA officer remarked on the Training Officer –
“If XY washes his ballocks, it’s not for comfort, nor is it for hygiene. It’s because XY read in a manual that a
good soldier washes his ballocks.!” XY ended his career as the Director of Training for the whole Irish Army.
It seems to me that Martin McGuinness was a better Irish soldier than XY, and, unlike XY, was born a gentleman.,
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