Dubai: The death of Martin McGuinness, the Irish paramilitary-turned peacemaker who passed away on Tuesday at the age of 66, sparked a flood of tributes from politicians.
But not all remember him fondly. Shortly after the news of his death from a rare heart condition, two UK news outlets referred to him as an ‘IRA killer.’
The moniker referred to his past with the Irish Republican Army (IRA), an armed group which for decades tried to wrestle Northern Ireland — part of the British union — back into Irish hands.
However, in the 1970s, he renounced violence, and helped negotiate the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, which helped stabilise a long embattled Northern Ireland.
In 2007, he became Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister, its second most powerful man.
In 2012, McGuinness shook hands with Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, a symbolic move that seemed to cement his reputation as a peacemaker. He resigned from government in January, just two months before his death.
Here’s what two prominent Irish expats in Dubai say about him:
“In my view anyone who dies at 66 years is too young. I met Martin McGuinness and former First Minister Peter Robinson some years ago in Dubai and was struck by their ease with each other and their focus on developing and promoting business and peace in Northern Ireland. They both worked so hard and achieved so much. Hopefully the passing away of McGuinness will not affect the peace currently enjoyed in Northern Ireland.” — Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of Dubai Duty Free
“His passing away is a big loss to Irish society in general. He was a great statesman, although he had been a terrorist in the past. But then he turned to politics, and reformed Northern Ireland. He was the Nelson Mandela of Ireland. He will go down as one of the greatest statesmen Ireland has ever produced.”
– Eugene McGettigan, Customer Relations Manager at McGettigan’s Irish Pubs in Dubai
