David Ford MLAsaid: “Margaret Thatcher’s legacy has had a lasting impact on all political parties in the last 30 years. She was such a dominant force in British politics for a long period of time.
“While she was a very divisive figure in domestic politics with both supporters and detractors, her role in the Falklands war and in helping bring down the iron curtain and transform central Europe will be remembered for a long time.
“I disagreed with many of her policies, but she should be commended for her attempts to broker a peace deal in Northern Ireland with the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985. While its success may have been limited, it marked an improvement in co-operation between the British and Irish Governments which was part of the process that led to the Belfast Agreement in 1998.
“Being the UK’s first and so far only female Prime Minister, she should be praised for the part she played in breaking the glass ceiling.
“I would like to pass on my sympathies and that of my party to her children and her wider family circle.”
ENDS