01.08.07
David Ervine
I had the opportunity to meet him once. I always liked the look of him on telly – I thought he seemed warm and sincere. The reality, thankfully, matched the tv perception. He had a genuine conversion to peace when in jail and credited Gusty Spence with making him see the futility of violence. Sadly, the PUP were never able to mobilise Loyalism into a political force like SF did Republicanism. He’s a good man though.
One interesting thing he told me was how important Trade Union leaders in the south were in communicating with loyalists when the cease fires were being negotiated. Brian FitzGerald, the ex-Labour TD currently councillor in Meath, was one such contact. Funny how there were so many people involved in the whole f8cking peace process.
JC Skinner said,
January 8, 2007 at 2:37 pm
It takes a village, Sarah…
Niall said,
January 8, 2007 at 2:44 pm
And alas, a single man can bring it crashing down if he wants.
Luke Mc said,
January 8, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Apparently Anne Doyle announced he was dead on the news early. Oops.
angela said,
January 8, 2007 at 4:07 pm
Yes, nine o’clock news announced his demise along with obit. tommy gorman had to apologise on Morning Ireland.. all terribly embarrassing for RTE!!! Did anyone in Montrose check Charlie Haughey’s pulse!!!!
John of Dublin said,
January 8, 2007 at 4:15 pm
Yea, I watched the RTE 9.00pm news headlines with Anne Doyle and it was all about him being dead and talking to northern correspondants etc. about his legacy and his poor widow and family etc! What a goof! I was so convinced he was dead that when I saw aertel in the morning and it said he had heart attack my first reaction was – ah feckin aertel not updated again! I don’t think other TV media made the same error. I haven’t seen an apology on RTE website, just – “It was incorrectly reported last night that he had died”.
John of Dublin said,
January 8, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Whoops, its seems he HAS died now…
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2007/0108/breaking1.htm
angela said,
January 8, 2007 at 4:43 pm
A nice guy.. he was Mo Mowlan’s favourite of the lot of them. His passion for peace was unfortunately not contagious in his own community. I loved the way he said it like he saw it, to the extent of being very critical of his own community.
P O'Neill said,
January 8, 2007 at 5:54 pm
Pedant alert — surname is Ervine.
I wonder if the confusion about the reported time of death related to what was clearly a decision to switch off his life support. His prognosis, following what sounds like a near-simultaneous heart attack and stroke, was clearly dire.
John of Dublin said,
January 8, 2007 at 6:11 pm
Yes to P O’Neill, that’s what it looks like to me now – it seems he had been on the life support machine since yesterday.
Pity he couldn’t make the PUP bigger with more support. Sadly we may have to wait for big Ian to leave the planet before more moderate Unionism develops.
Sarah said,
January 8, 2007 at 7:53 pm
spelling corrected:-)
SO THAT explains it. I came in half way through O’Gorman’s report last night and clearly understood DE to be dead. Then I noticed the headlines in the papers today reporting his heart attack and thought…huh, that’s weird…he mustn’t have been dead when they went to press…THEN when it was obvious he only died today I thought O’Gorman was just being silly using the past tense about him…That’s a bit of c8ck up, isn’t it?
Bock the Robber said,
January 8, 2007 at 9:55 pm
No. He wasn’t a nice guy. In fact, what makes David Ervine important is that he wasn’t a nice guy. He might have been affable and sociable, but nice he was not. Indeed, while he may well have begun to explore the Irish dimension to his life and reached out to the Taigs, which is commendable, it was the very nature of his involvement in the conflict that put him to the forefront. He was important because he was one of the hard men, and I have the height of regard for him, but nice is not one of the words I would have chosen to describe him.
Nevertheless, nice guy or not, David Ervine deserves our respect and we should all mourn his passing.
Paul Newton said,
January 9, 2007 at 4:37 pm
excessive pedantry alert…. it’s Tommy Gorman, not O’Gorman.. Us Sligo Rovers supporters must stick up for each other… as for David Ervine, well thank you Bock for bringing some reality back to the debate, Ervine was an ego-centric who got his kicks from attention (with Gusty) a more noble pursuit than most of his UVF colleagues who proceeded to get thier kicks from drugs and thuggery, but he was getting his kicks none the less. That said i enjoyed his contributions, particulary V Dunphy on the last word – as for his contribution to the peace process, i’d say it was largely circumstantial – the UVF ceasefire was an unusual paradox, they stopped killing taigs and began to kill each other instead.
Paul Newton said,
January 9, 2007 at 4:45 pm
whoops sorry….just noticed Nialls comments earlier, no Niall a single man (i assume you mean big Ian) CANNOT bring it crashing down – he can but delay it at this stage, the bigotry of the past could only survive because the spotlight of the world was not shining on it, but nowaday’s it’s more difficult to act the neanderthal before someone points and shouts NEANDERTHAL!
Big Ian would already be there if he could drag the vote coveting, power hungry, militants with him, he’s in the same position as Trimble was, but the two Governments and the people of Norn Iron will not allow the process to be held to ransom forever – Gerry and Martin should run a workshop for him to show him how it’s done.
John of Dublin said,
January 9, 2007 at 5:59 pm
One of the many problems with big Ian is that he is blatently tactless and unhelpful in his use of words. He is going to be an ongoing problem until he gets too old to shout. It’s unbelievable that the moderates like the SDLP, UUP and others are so much in the background. It’s still so politically polarised and progress is going at a snails pace. Better European integration by the UK and the likely eventual balancing of population of nationalists and loyalists will probably be amongst the various final stabilizing forces.
Darren Mac an PhrÃora said,
January 10, 2007 at 5:19 pm
This thread has been mentioned on Slugger O’ Toole- the sixth thread down.
http://www.sluggerotoole.com
mairtin said,
January 24, 2007 at 10:09 pm
Hi. Yes he will be missed. Even though I am a Sinn Fein supporter I think he is a huge loss to Irish politics. I think it will be very difficult for the Loyalist community to replace him.