Final tributes to peacemaker Roy.

Byline: By MAURICE FITZMAURICE

SEEING victims of the La Mon bomb atrocity inspired Roy Magee's quest to end violence, his funeral heard yesterday.

And people from across the political divide - including ex-Taoiseach Albert Reynolds and veteran UDA man Andy Tyrie - were told how the cleric became a key player in a process that would end years of bloodshed. Rev Ivan McKay told the service in Dundonald Rev Magee was known for "courage and humility" while brokering the 1994 loyalist ceasefire.

But he was also a "very fervent preacher of the gospel".

Reverend Magee, 79, died at the weekend after a long battle with Parkinson's disease.

The Ballysillan man worked in churches in some of the toughest areas of Belfast, before settling in the Dundonald parish near Belfast in 1975.

His influential meetings with the UVF and UDA/UFF were not made public until nearly two years before their October ceasefires.

In 2004, he was awarded an OBE in recognition of his work.

CAPTION(S):

VETERANS Loyalists, from left Frankie Gallagher, Joe English and Andy Tyrie; LOYALIST UDA's Jackie McDonald; RESPECTS The Rev John Dunlop and Albert Reynolds; SO SAD Mourners lift Roy Magee's coffin yesterday Dundonald parish yesterday; MISSED Rev Roy Magee