Tribute to cleric who talked peace with IRA in 1974 and fled to Canada after threats from UDA

Tributes have been paid to an Anglican minister who took part in early ground breaking peace talks with the IRA has passed away in Canada.
By Philip Bradfield
Published 29th Nov 2020, 20:00 BST
Updated 30th Nov 2020, 10:03 BST
Rev Ralph Baxter has passed away. He was the last of seven clerics who met the IRA Army Council in Co Clare in 1974 in a bid to bring peace in Northern Ireland. Photo: St John's Cathedral, Winnipeg, Manitoba.Rev Ralph Baxter has passed away. He was the last of seven clerics who met the IRA Army Council in Co Clare in 1974 in a bid to bring peace in Northern Ireland. Photo: St John's Cathedral, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Rev Ralph Baxter has passed away. He was the last of seven clerics who met the IRA Army Council in Co Clare in 1974 in a bid to bring peace in Northern Ireland. Photo: St John's Cathedral, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Rev Ralph Baxter was one of a delegation of Irish clerics who met the IRA’s Army Council leadership in Feakle, Co Clare in 1974.

A Church of Ireland minister, then serving in Belfast, he had attended the talks as a representative of the Irish Council of Churches.

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Rev Ivan Patterson, President of the Irish Council of Churches, said: “As President of the Irish Council of Churches (ICC), I wish to express our condolences to the family of Rev Ralph Baxter. We, as a society, owe a great debt of gratitude to those who, like Rev Baxter, had the courage to take risks to create spaces for dialogue when the peace we enjoy today seemed unimaginable. As ICC we draw inspiration from his Gospel-centred vision for peace which inspired his leadership in the area of inter-church relations.”

In the BBC ‘Spotlight on the Troubles’ series last year, he said that he and seven other clerics involved in the peace initiative had been acting as emissaries of the British Government.

He had been the only surviving member of the group who travelled to Feakle to talk to the IRA Army Council members.

The talks were followed by a series of short lived ceasefires as part of early efforts to bring the intense bloodshed of the early 1970s to an end.

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He told the BBC last year he felt forced to flee NI after the talks because his life was under threat from the UDA.

St John’s Cathedral, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada paid a heartfelt tribute to him on Friday.

“Our beloved friend and brother, The Very Rev Ralph E Baxter, Dean Emeritus, died peacefully last night, at home,” it said. “He served this Cathedral as rector and the Diocese as Dean from 1990 until his retirement in 1995. Please hold Eileen Baxter and their family in your prayers. May Dean Ralph rest in peace and rise with Christ in glory.”

According to newspaper clippings he was appointed Secretary of the Irish Council of Churches in July 1972 and was later appointed to an Anglican group ministry in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

He was married with two children.

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Prior to that Rev Baxter had served in Donaghcloney, Co Down, Orangefield in Belfast and Kilknasoolagh in Co Clare.

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