Opinion

Deaglán de Bréadún: Seamus Mallon believed to his core in non-violent constitutional nationalism

Deaglán de Bréadún
Deaglán de Bréadún Deaglán de Bréadún

Seamus Mallon was a highly-articulate, resolute, dignified and measured politician and human being.

He was a convinced moderate but certainly not a soft-touch who would roll over at the first display of opposition. Unlike those who took the pathway of non-violent constitutional nationalism as a final option, the man from Markethill, County Armagh, believed to his core that this was always the right and proper route.

My most vivid memory of him goes back to July 1, 1998 when I was part of the media contingent outside Castle Buildings, Stormont. The newly-elected Assembly set up under the Good Friday Agreement was about to hold its inaugural meeting and, since John Hume had been such a central figure, it was assumed he would be taking the job of deputy first minister-designate, the highest position available to nationalists. But the SDLP leader had decided to give the job to his deputy, announcing it that morning in the Wellington Park Hotel. Although it was said later that an attempt was made to contact Mallon in advance, he was not in attendance and only learnt of his new role when he arrived for the Assembly meeting.

Another vivid Castle Buildings memory is of a famous occasion, captured in silhouette by the TV cameras, when his party colleague Bríd Rodgers embraced Mallon in delight after he returned from negotiations to report that agreement had been reached with the Ulster Unionist Party on a cabinet-style power-sharing executive. Prospects for that historic pact in the early hours of Good Friday were enhanced by another stand-out moment a month earlier when Mallon and UUP leader David Trimble jointly visited the grieving families of Philip Allen, a Protestant, and Damien Trainor, a Catholic, two long-time friends who were shot dead by loyalists at Poyntzpass, Co Armagh on March 3, 1998.

However, Mallon’s political relationship with Trimble was certainly not made in heaven and neither was his interaction with John Hume. I recall a conversation we had at a time of intense speculation that his party leader was about to go for election as President of Ireland. It was clear Mallon was not being kept up to speed on the issue and our chat concluded on a rather plaintive note when he requested, if I heard anything, to be told about it.

But their partnership worked out well in practical terms. The SDLP leader set out the vision of peace and his colleague implemented those principles. My final conversation with Seamus Mallon took place last August during the Daniel O’Connell Summer School at Cahersiveen, County Kerry where he received a standing ovation from the large crowd who attended a public interview with journalist Stephen Collins which centred on his autobiography, ‘A Shared Home Place’, co-written with Andy Pollak. His call in that book for “parallel consent’, with at least 40 per cent of the unionist community voting in favour, as a precondition for Irish unity caused a stir, but Seamus Mallon was a straight talker: what you saw was what you got.