Editorial: Senator George Mitchell did a huge amount for Northern Ireland over many years and is revered across the community and Queen's University Belfast and the US-Ireland Alliance have acted with undue haste in treating him as a disgraced figure

​With striking speed, Queen’s University in Belfast and the US Ireland Alliance have totally cut off Senator George Mitchell over his links to Jeffrey Epstein.

​Queen’s is dropping the name of the retired politician from Maine, US, from its peace centre, and removing a bust of him, that was not long in place. The alliance is renaming its George J Mitchell peace scholarships.

This is a fall from grace of bewildering proportions. George Mitchell was a hero in the province, across all sections of the community, and for his years of dedication to improving this society.

It is appropriate to bring balance to the matter. In some quarters Senator Mitchell is being presented as a disgraced figure yet he has not been arrested for anything, let alone convicted.

That Jeffrey Epstein was a prolific sex abuser has not been in doubt for much more than a decade, even if the scale of his crimes only came to light in latter years. Some of his friends displayed woeful judgment in staying close to him. That is very different to having joined the late Mr Epstein in his abuse – and we do not yet know how many people did so.

Queen’s acknowledged that “no findings of wrongdoing by senator Mitchell have been made” but said that in light of new material on his links to Epstein “it is no longer appropriate ... to continue to bear his name”. The US-Ireland Alliance was similarly forthright.

While these two organisations might praise themselves on their decisiveness, he is innocent until proven otherwise, even if his judgment was lamentable. It is not like Andrew Mounbatten-Windsor, where it became increasingly clear he had not been honest about his ongoing close ties to Epstein.

There might be a time when these institutions should cut their links with Senator Mitchell but until any such time his record here deserves gratitude and respect.