Martin Mansergh obituary

"Mansergh, who has died aged 78 of a heart attack during a trip to Western Sahara with other retired Irish parliamentarians, was educated at a British boarding school and Oxford University yet helped shape the Irish republican dimensions of the agreement. In 1988, he was political adviser to the then taoiseach, Charles Haughey, who tasked him with opening up a secret channel of communication."

"Known to his clandestine republican contacts simply as the Man, Mansergh later admitted he exceeded his narrow brief to help develop a roadmap to peace. I was given the instruction just to listen, but I'm afraid I did a great deal more than that, he recalled 20 years later. He argued that paramilitary violence needed to end in order to build up a nationalist consensus that could deliver an acceptable constitutional agreement north and south of the border."

Martin Mansergh coordinated the Irish government's engagement with the IRA for several decades and played a key role in shaping the republican dimensions of the peace agreement. Educated at a British boarding school and Oxford, he opened secret channels in 1988 as political adviser to taoiseach Charles Haughey, using Father Alec Reid to relay messages from Gerry Adams. He admitted exceeding his brief to help develop a roadmap to peace and argued that paramilitary violence needed to end to build nationalist consensus for a constitutional agreement. He sensed the IRA might call off its armed campaign without immediate reunification and continued advising under Albert Reynolds despite threats.

Read at www.theguardian.com