DUP peer and former Londonderry mayor Willie Hay praises SDLP ex-MLA Mary Bradley after her death - with party confirming that fellow ex-MLA Joe Byrne has also now died
The DUP’s Willie Hay is among those to have paid tribute to former SDLP MLA Mary Bradley following her death.
The passing of the former Derry City Council mayor and Foyle MLA (from 2003 to 2011) was announced by SDLP leader Claire Hanna this morning.
She was aged 84.
The party subsequently announced that former West Tyrone MLA Joe Byrne had also died.
He was aged 72.
Like Mrs Bradley, Lord Hay is also a former Foyle MLA (1998 to 2014) and a former mayor of the city, who at one stage served as deputy mayor to her during the early 1990s.
He told the News Letter she was liked in both nationalist and unionist communities, saying: “I got on with her extremely well. Our politics mightn’t have matched, but when I was deputy and she was mayor we worked together really well.
"She was very, very, very popular across the city. Irrespective of where she went, she was very much welcomed.
"She’d have been well-thought-of. That was a difficult time I suppose for unionism generally, cause you’d the name change of the airport [from Londonderry Elginton Airport to City of Derry], you’d all that going on.
"But in saying that, she was welcome right across the constituency. She was that type of person – she was likeable.”
He added that "certainly she’ll be missed”.
Meanwhile DUP councillor Niree McMorris, a former deputy mayor of Derry City and Strabane, described Mrs Bradley as “very well-known and very popular,” adding: “I’m sad to hear her passing – she was a lovely woman, and gave a lot to her community.”
On the death of Joe Byrne, a former Omagh District Councillor who served as MLA for West Tyrone between 1998 and 2003, and again from 2011 to 2015, SDLP leader Claire Hanna said he was “a giant of public service who devoted his life to the people of Tyrone, serving his community with integrity, compassion and quiet determination”.
She added: “Not only did he play a key role in the SDLP during the Good Friday Agreement negotiations, locally he championed rural communities and was key in the ongoing campaign for the A5.
"He also cared deeply about education, agriculture, and the local economy.
“Joe will leave a lasting legacy in his community in Tyrone, and it will be one of decency, fairness and hope.”