McGuinness’ Mother Dies

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Irish Voice News

McGuinness’ Mother Dies

October 10, 2008

By Barry McCaffrey

TRIBUTES have been paid to Peggy McGuinness, the mother of Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, who died on Monday after a short illness.

An intensely private woman, she stood by her 19-year-old son Martin in 1969 as he emerged as one of the leaders of militant republicanism at the outbreak of the Troubles.

However, Mrs. McGuinness never hid her fears for her son when she learned that he had joined the IRA.

On discovering an IRA beret and belt in her son’s bedroom, she worriedly asked, “His father is a welder, his brothers are at the bricklaying and carpentering but what will become of Martin?

“That’s why they’ll have to get an amnesty, so’s he can get back to work, and not always be on the run.”

Admitting to constantly worrying about her son’s safety, she once said, “Any mother would worry who had a son involved in a political struggle. I worry all the time about his safety and about all the family.”

In an amusing anecdote, former Assistant Chief Constable Peter Sheridan, who until his retirement earlier this summer was the most senior Catholic officer in the PSNI, recalled how he had once been offered a bowl of soup made by Peggy McGuinness during a visit to the home of Derry author Nell McCafferty in 2006.

“Nell takes me into the kitchen for a bowl of soup,” he recalled. “Peggy McGuinness, Martin’s mother, made that soup,” McCafferty told him.

“A story came on the TV about Alexander Litvinenko being poisoned and for a moment I thought, ‘I could end up like that Russian fellow,” he joked.

Two days later, Sheridan was in Downing Street with then British Prime Minister Tony Blair for the first official meeting between Sinn Fein and the PSNI.

“As everybody shook hands on the way out, I said to Martin McGuinness, ‘Your mother makes good soup.’ He looked surprised. ‘Where did you taste my mother’s soup?’ he asked.

“‘Come back to the next meeting and I’ll tell you!’ I said.”

When Sinn Fein and the DUP went into power-sharing government at Stormont in May Martin McGuinness ensured that his mother was one of the VIP guests seated alongside prime ministers and heads of state.

Former hunger striker Raymond McCartney described Mrs. McGuinness as a “stalwart and a great supporter of the Republican cause” who would be sadly missed.

DUP leader Peter Robinson said, “While politics may be considered to be a rough trade I think all of us recognize this is the time to set aside any political issues and to recognize the difficulties the family will be facing at this time and to recognize that it is a time for deep mourning.”

SDLP leader Mark Durkan described Mrs. McGuinness as a “very kindly woman with real charm.”

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