My wife first met Dr Joe Hendron in the 1960s. Her family were patients and she remembers him with great affection.

I first met Dr Joe Hendron in May 1973 when I joined the SDLP. He was Chair of Falls Branch when I served as Secretary. I moved out of West Belfast in 1979. I had not seen Dr Joe for over thirty two years. Until yesterday.

We have many good and sad memories of West Belfast and the SDLP in the 1970s. Great people. Monday night meetings above a chip shop on the Glen Road and later in a terraced hose, just a few yards from Andersonstown RUC Station. Yesterday to mark the twentieth anniversary of his election as MP for West Belfast, he was Guest of Honour at the SDLP Youth Conference….fittingly in Beechmount.

Arguably when Joe Hendron defeated Gerry Adams in the 1992 Westminster Election, it ended a run of Sinn Fein successes which had begun with the Hunger Strikes in 1981. They had persued the “armalite and ballot box strategy” but the West Belfast reverse was “make your mind up time”. They had to choose between the two.

Joe Hendron spoke movingly yesterday about how he became motivated by his experiences as a family doctor in West Belfast. The young folks listened in awe…indeed so did older folks. He spoke about inequalities in health care and broken promises.

Dr Joe is a gentle man ……I dont think I have ever met a man who is more “gentle”. But he had a passion for Justice……and still retains that passion.

Many politicians are respected. Few are loved. Joe Hendron is respected and loved.