The Troubles: Ireland's Ordeal 1966–1995 and the Search for Peace

by Tim Pat Coogan

The younger McGuinness was frequently referred to as ‘The Cool Clean Hero’. Red-haired, slim and tall, wearing a tweed jacket, an Aran sweater and a friendly smile, he caught the imagination of the younger Derry Nationalists. A devout Catholic, I have known him to be denounced from the pulpit and applauded by the congregation. His principal relaxations are his family and fishing. He is also an extremely tough, hard-minded military and political thinker. The northern security forces never succeeded in recapturing him following his release after a short sentence from the Curragh. During the period of his leadership the Provisionals managed to bomb, and rebomb, economic targets in Derry without causing any loss of civilian life, though there were numerous casualties amongst the security forces. It was this selectivity that ensured that the women of Derry never marched on the Provisionals as they had done with the Officials, to demand that they call off their campaign.