Robert David Eric Gallagher

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, (24 August 1913 – 30 December 1999) was President of the Methodist Church in Ireland during 1967. In 1974 he was one of a group of

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clergymen who met with

Provisional IRA The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...

officers in

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in the 1970s to try to broker a peace after achieving a temporary ceasefire. The meeting was broken up by the Gardaí but the IRA officers had already left. He spent 22 years as superintendent of the Belfast Central Mission, from 1957 until 1979. He died on 30 December 1999, aged 86, and was interred at the Lisburn New Cemetery at Blaris, County Down.

Legacy

At Gallagher's funeral in January 2000,

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Cahal Daly Charles (Cahal) Brendan Cardinal Daly KGCHS (1 October 1917 – 31 December 2009) was an Irish philosopher, theologian, writer and international speaker and, in later years, a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Daly served as the Roman Cath ...

, with whom Gallagher had jointly chaired a social issues group behind the ''Violence in Ireland'' report to the churches stated: ''"Not many people have been clear and steady beacons of light in the darkness of the last 30 years. Eric Gallagher was one ... was a privilege to work with him ... he took risks for peace."''

Other

Gallagher was the subject of ''Peacemaker'', written by Dennis Cooke.

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: Methodist Publishing House, 2005. .

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web site, accessed 17:55 GMT Monday 19 May 2014

References

External links

BibliographyWorld Methodist Council website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gallagher, Eric 1913 births 1999 deaths Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Methodist ministers from Northern Ireland People from County Down Place of death missing Presidents of the Methodist Church in Ireland