TRIBUTES were paid yesterday to the cross community work of the senior Sinn Fein officer and former H blocks hunger striker, Councillor Pat McGeown, who died at his home in west Belfast on Tuesday night.
Mr McGeown (40) had suffered from persistent heart trouble and other ailments believed to have been caused by his protracted hunger strike in the Maze Prison in 1981.
One of the most influential figures in Sinn Fein, Mr McGeown served on the party's ardcomhairle and was chairman of Belfast Sinn Fein at the time of his death.
The chairman of Sinn Fein, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, said he had been a central figure in developing the party's political strategy and had assisted greatly in anchoring the peace process within the party and in the wider debate outside.
Interned in 1973 for 18 months at the age of 16, he was sentenced to 15 years in 1975 for bombing the Europa Hotel. He spent 47 days on hunger strike in 1981 before his family agreed to medical intervention to save his life after he had lapsed into a coma.
After his release, he was elected to Belfast City Council for the Lower Falls area in 1993 and later became his party's spokesman on prisons.
In recent years he had reached across the political divide and appeared on platforms with members of the loyalist fringe parties as well as co operating with community workers in loyalist areas.
A Protestant community worker, Ms May Blood, said she had worked with him on several schemes which had been beneficial to both communities. His community would be much the poorer for his passing, she said.
The manager of the Upper Springfield Development Trust,
Ms Geraldine McAteer, said Mr McGeown had many friends in the Protestant community who admired his work, his tolerance and his open mind.
The SDLP chairman, Mr Jonathan Stephenson, said he was a courteous and decent political opponent and a man with whom anyone could have done business. He would be a loss to the chances for a permanent peace.
The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, expressed his "profound shock" at Mr McGeown's death and said he was a dear friend and comrade.
Mr McGeown is survived by his wife, Pauline, and five children.