Former first minister of Northern Ireland David Trimble has died

17 comments
  1. Sad news, although often considered “the other side” there’s no getting away from the effort he put into making peace through the GFA.

    RIP

  2. Christ, was he ill? Even though he’s 77, wasn’t expecting that. Basically only now Gerry left out of the big names in the 90s isn’t it now. Paisley, Trimble, Hume and McGuinness all gone before him.

  3. Trimble was a flawed character but he showed real leadership in the peace process

    Without him Northern Ireland would be a very different place

  4. He leaves a complex legacy; ultimately a peacemaker but like others he did a lot of harm in his time. I feel he did redeem himself but I think groups like the Catholics of Drumcree should be remembered as well

  5. People who are calling him a peace maker are viewing history through rose tinted glasses. David Trimble was dragged kicking and screaming into the good Friday agreement. John Hume deserved the Noble peace prize. David Trimble did not but I understand why they gave it to him.

  6. May he rest in peace. Without him our island might be in a much worse place. He deserves to be respected and praised for his work during the peace process. It must have come with its share of personal sacrifice. My condolences to his family and friends.

  7. He was a bad man, a sectarian bigot and a proto-fascist who believed firmly in the apartheid state and maintaining Protestant supremacy in the North.

    But he had the courage to stand up to those who were even worse and more extreme than him, and he played a small part in delivering peace when he realised that if he didn’t, the Unionists would lose everything.

    More an Ian Smith than an FW de Klerk.

  8. If this happens to the leaders of the Dup that would make me happy also I should be allowed to comment on my own country’s subreddit I should not need karma to do so

  9. What a depressingly predictable reaction to this.

    RIP to the man. He did a lot more for peace on this Island than most people.

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