David Trimble 1944–2022: What the former Ulster Unionist leader’s political enemies and critics are saying about him following his death at age 77

GERRY ADAMS:

“David faced huge challenges when he led the Ulster Unionist Party in the Good Friday Agreement negotiations and persuaded his party to sign on for it. It is to his credit that he supported that Agreement. I thank him for that.

“In the years immediately following the Agreement I met David many times. Our conversations were not always easy but we made progress.

“We used to meet quite often on our own and I got to know him quite well. While we held fundamentally different political opinions on the way forward nonetheless I believe he was committed to making the peace process work.

“David’s contribution to the Good Friday Agreement and to the quarter century of relative peace that followed cannot be underestimated.”

JUDE COLLINS (REPUBLICAN COMMENTATOR):

“De mortuis nil nisi bonum – We should speak no evil of the dead. So let me start by noting that David Trimble, who died yesterday, spared us the UUP under the leadership of John Taylor, aka Lord Kilclooney.

“At the time, Taylor was expected to grab the glittering prize. Trimble ended up triumphant...

“He was reported as dying after a short illness; when he attended the unveiling of his portrait last summer he was scarcely recognisable, so I’m assuming he was ill for at least a year.

“He did little for nationalism, beyond laughing at Martin McGuinness because he sat in the wrong seat at an early meeting. He did less for unionism, in trying to kid them that the GFA meant nothing had changed.

“Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.”

(Taken from a piece entitled ‘David Trimble: A Man With Red Hair’)

MICHELLE O’NEILL:

“It is with genuine regret that I have learned of the passing of Former First Minister, David Trimble.

“I wish to offer my sincere condolences to his wife Daphne, their four children and the wider family circle who will feel his loss deeply.

“His very significant contribution to the peace process and his courage in helping achieve the Good Friday Agreement leaves a legacy a quarter century on for which he and his family should be rightly proud.”

MARY LOU MCDONALD:

“Very saddened to hear of the death of David Trimble. His contribution to building the peace process in Ireland will stand as a proud and living legacy of his political life.

“Condolences to his wife Daphne and family. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam.”

MAROS SEFCOVIC (AN OPPONENT OF LORD TRIMBLE’S EFFORTS TO AXE THE NI PROTOCOL):

“I wish to express my sincere condolences to the family and friends of Lord David Trimble.

“The crucial role he played in securing the Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement and in building peace in Northern Ireland is an enduring legacy that will never be forgotten.”

JIM ALLISTER (AS AN ANTI-AGREEMENT UNIONIST AT THE TIME OF THE 1998 POLL):

“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.”

JAMIE BRYSON:

“There are many legitimate disagreements with the approach of Lord Trimble in 1998, but to his credit the affidavit he swore in the Protocol case set out cogently how unionism was betrayed in the Belfast Agreement.

“He will be remembered as a giant of Unionism.

“Lord Trimble genuinely believed in his brand of unionism, and he did so for the right reasons. And he was open to challenge on his ideas, and always honest in his assessment – as with the Protocol. He was a genuine, committed & honest unionist. A political giant.”

David Trimble 1944–2022: Funeral details announced after death of unionist titan and former First Minister