Newly released confidential file: Catholic Bishop thought Martin McGuinness was chilling, humourless, and violent

The bishop in question – Edward Daly – made the remarks in conversation with an Irish official called Niall Holohan.

Mr Holohan was then with the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs’ Anglo-Irish section, and later went on to be ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

Father Daly was Bishop of Derry from 1974 to 1993, and came to public prominence when he was seen by TV cameras shepherding civilians along a street on Bloody Sunday by waving a white hankerchief to deter more gunfire.

Bishop Daly died in 2016.

The conversation between the two men was recorded in a confidential government memo in May 1988.

It reads: “He [the bishop] said he was well acquainted with Martin McGuinness who, unlike many other Provos, was a regular church-goer.

He had no doubt that McGuinness was a hard-liner and appeared to be committed to a military rather than political victory for the IRA.

“He felt the most chilling thing about McGuinness was his total lack of humour.”

When it came to talks between John Hume and Gerry Adams, “Bishop Daly said that, like most people in Derry, he had complete faith in John Hume. He was not quite sure, however, of just what was going on but he was prepared to accept that John Hume knew what was best.”

When it came to Catholic support for the Provos, “the Bishop said there was a large segment of the nationalist population which could swing in either direction depending on the latest event – the politics of the last atrocity, as he called it”.

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Newly released confidential file: Catholic Bishop thought Martin McGuinness was chilling, humourless, and violent – but regularly attended mass