 |
|||||
|
|||||
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
||
| Tribute to David Irvine Read at a special meeting of Belfast City Council on Thursday 1st February 2007 We come to say goodbye to a colleague and a friend and above all a great Belfast man. We come not just to commemorate the life of David Ervine, but also to celebrate his life. For me he was the example of a good politician, a good councillor – prepared to listen, to debate and prepared to enter debate and prepared above all to give leadership. Leadership is what politics is all about and David knew that the core of his political mission was to give effective and imaginative leadership to his constituency. That he gave with great courage and commitment. He was, and continued to be until his untimely death, an advocate for the Good Friday Agreement. He was unwavering and courageous in his advocacy of partnership between the two traditions. On a personal level he was friendly and courteous and engaging. He was a big man with a generous heart and a spirit of tenderness. We, SDLP, as a group extend our deepest sympathy to Jeanette, his wife, and his two sons, Mark and Owen. But, if we truly wish to commemorate this outstanding leader and politician, we should not just preserve his memory but also embrace and advance the political values that he stood for – for they were the values of tolerance, diversity and partnership. His vision was of a divided community, united in reconciliation to defeat the scourge of violence, destruction and social depravation. Let us therefore realise that vision, which David Ervine so eloquently stated throughout his political life. May
he rest in peace.
|
||
 |
||
