Lembit Opik pays tribute to Martin McGuinness

Mr Opik was the Liberal's shadow Northern Ireland secretary from 1998-2008 and says he knew the former Deputy First Minister very well.

"I worked with him very closely during the Northern Ireland peace process and found him intelligent and utterly principled," he said.

"He was a leader in his community and you could trust what he said. What he said was always well informed and meaningful."

Mr Opik who grew up in Bangor, County Down - where his parents had fled from Soviet occupied Estonia - said he had not been surprised by the friendship that grew between Mr McGuinness and Unionist lader, Ian Paisley in their later lives.

"They both had so much in common. They both had deep held values, both loved their communities and both were passionate about their beliefs," he said.

Mr McGuinness had, as much as he could given his history, turned his back against violence, Mr Opik said.

"In doing so he took a great, personal risk. There were still dissidents that did not like the path the peace process was taking - he was a brave man."

"When people are so passionate about their beliefs and feel that they are being oppressed they sometimes feel they have no alternative but to resort to any means possible to make a change."

Mr Opik said he agreed with the former First Minister and Nobel Peace Prizewinner, David Trimble who said on signing the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, "Just because you have a past doesn't mean you can't have a future."

"I myself was involved in the Independence First For Estonia Movement. When people are oppressed in their own country there will be people who feel they have to resort to all means possible to make change," he said.