Former US president Bill Clinton and Martin McGuinness during the peace process
FORMER US president Bill Clinton and former British prime minister Tony Blair will attend the funeral of Martin McGuinness in Derry tomorrow.
The funeral mass will be held at St Columba’s Church in Long Tower at 2 pm, followed by burial afterwards in the City Cemetery.
Thousands of people of people from across Derry and republicans from across Ireland are expected to attend the funeral which could be one of the biggest the city has ever seen in many years.
However, DUP leader Arlene Foster has not yet decided on whether to attend Mr McGuinness’s funeral.
Last night, thousands of people gathered to pay tribute at a candlelit vigil in west Belfast, while hundreds had gathered in Derry earlier to accompany the body of Mr McGuinness on his final journey home.
Meanwhile, politicians in Northern Ireland have paid tribute to the former deputy first minister, who died yesterday after a short illness.
Martin McGunness was carried to his home yesterday by his wife Bernie. (North West Newspix)
Speaking at a special sitting of the Stormont Assembly, Sinn Féin leader in Northern Ireland Michelle O’Neill hailed Mr McGuinness as a “political visionary” and “gifted strategist and orator”.
She said: “His leadership and the example he set will continue to inspire those of us who are determined to build a better future for all the generations to come.”
Ms O’Neill said Mr McGuinness always challenged party colleagues to reach out to those from a unionist tradition.
She noted in his last public statement he urged people to choose “hope over fear”.
“The legacy that Martin wished was for a better future based on equality, and measured by the joy and laughter of all of our children,” she said.
DUP leader Arlene Foster also paid tribute to Mr McGuinness, and in her speech she concentrated on his contribution to power-sharing in Northern Ireland.
Mrs Foster referred to Mr McGuinness’s IRA past but also said that in politics, he worked for all the people of Northern Ireland.
She said the present Northern Ireland is immeasurably better than the past one.
With Stormont still without a power-sharing executive or new speaker in the wake of the recent snap election, traditional protocols were overridden to mark the death of the former deputy first minister.
She told MPs she could not “condone or justify” the part he played in the Troubles, but hailed his “indispensable” role in moving the republican movement away from violence to democratic methods.
The flag above Leinster House will be flown at half mast tomorrow as mark of respect.
Lord Mayor of Dublin Brendan Carr will open a book of condolence at the Mansion House today and tomorrow between 10am and 4pm.
Books of condolence have also been opened at the Guildhall in Derry and in Sinn Féin’s offices in Dundalk and Drogheda.
Ms O’Neill said she was honoured and proud to walk with the McGuinness family as his coffin was brought back to his home in Derry last night.
She said he had set the bar high for all political leaders and was a great example of how to behave in public life.
She added he was someone who was committed to equality and she was honoured to have “learned from the best”.
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