Gerry Fitt has died

Barely a week after the death of Mo Mowlam and now Gerry Fitt has died. Fitt was perhaps the first prominent Nationalist politician to realise that the problems of Northern Ireland needed to be solved by reconciliation between the communities rather than from some "victory" over the border. Fitt has been reviled by many Republicans for being seen as too British but he was one of the driving forces for the Sunningdale Agreement, the aborted forerunner of the Good Friday Agreement. By accepting the need for a power-sharing internal settlement, the Republicans who revile his name have accepted Fitt's argument completely. In years to come Fitt will be truly vindicated.