Social Democratic and Labour Party Leader Claire Hanna MP has paid tribute to former US President Jimmy Carter following news of his death on Sunday night.
President Carter, America’s 39th President, passed away at the age of 100.
Ms Hanna said President Carter was the first US President to seriously engage with issues in Northern Ireland.
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The South Belfast and Mid Down MP said: “Throughout his life Jimmy Carter was an advocate for human rights, peace, humanitarianism and doing what’s right, no matter how difficult. Alongside his late wife Rosalynn, his legacy stretches far beyond his term as President and his achievements through the Carter Centre and with Habitat for Humanity are arguably just as meaningful as anything he achieved while in office.
“At a time when violence was raging across Northern Ireland, Jimmy Carter ignored advice not to intervene and stuck his head above the parapet calling for the US to become directly involved in trying to secure peace here and promising investment after it was established. He was persuaded to get involved by Tip O’Neill, Ted Kennedy and others who updated him with the latest happenings here, though their own engagement with John Hume.
“Carter’s intervention was a significant one, he was serious about his commitment to advancing the cause of peace around the world and shared Hume’s vision that the only solution to the conflict here could be a peaceful one. His statement sent a clear message to the then-British government that they could no longer act with impunity when it came to Northern Ireland.
“Jimmy Carter leaves a lasting imprint not only on Northern Ireland, but around the world. He has left the world a better place as a result of his contribution throughout a lifetime of service and I can think of no greater legacy than that.”
SDLP leader Claire Hanna
Carter, who was the longest-living former American president, died on Sunday, December 29, his son announced. An immediate cause was not given.
He served as president for one term from 1977 to 1981, but is just as well-known for his humanitarian service after leaving Washington, DC, working for Habitat for Humanity and negotiating peace deals.
In 2018, it was revealed by official files that he had been previously suggested for a Northern Ireland peace process role.
Speculation was mounting in January 1993 that president-elect Bill Clinton would appoint a special envoy.
British Foreign Office official Jonathan Powell mentioned Mr Carter in a note disclosed in an archived British government file released by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) in Belfast.
Mr Powell described how former congressman Bruce Morrison, then head of the Irish Americans for Clinton lobby group, envisaged the envoy.
Mr Powell wrote: “He (Morrison) did not envisage an Irish American filling the role.
“An Irish American like (Bill) Flynn would have too much baggage.
“He envisaged instead someone completely independent, like Jimmy Carter, or someone in the same mould but of lower profile.”
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Mr Carter only served one term in office but became a diplomat and mediator around the world. He worked on the Middle East peace process and tried to encourage talks between North and South Korea.
In 1993 a statement from the Friends of Ireland in the US said: “On this St Patrick’s Day, the Friends of Ireland in the US Congress join with Irish Americans… in calling for renewed efforts to achieve peace, reconciliation and justice in Northern Ireland.”
In the event, former Democratic senator George Mitchell was appointed as envoy in 1995, securing a commitment to non-violence from the gunmen and ultimately becoming the architect of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.