AN Irish priest who played a key role in brokering peace in Northern Ireland has died.

Father Alec Reid, 82, acted as a go-between ferrying messages to and from republicans and the British and Irish governments in the earliest stages of the peace process in the 1980s.

Years later, with the 1998 Good Friday peace accord signed, he acted as an independent witness to the decommissioning of the IRA's arsenal of weapons.

During the Troubles, his image was seared into the public consciousness when he was pictured kneeling over the corpse of one of two British soldiers he performed the last rites on after they were murdered by a republican mob in west Belfast.

The Redemptorist order of Catholic priests, of which the cleric was a member, said he died peacefully in hospital in Dublin.

Irish President Michael D Higgins led tributes to the late cleric, who in his later years made Dublin home.

"Father Reid's role as a channel for peace laid the ground for the achievement of the IRA ceasefire and created the political space for the multi-party talks that ultimately led to the Good Friday Agreement."

The cleric had a long association with Clonard church in west Belfast and his funeral will be held there on Wednesday Father Reid was a key confidante of Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams and the republican leader trusted him to ferry messages to and from the then Social Democratic and Labour Party leader John Hume and contacts in the British and Irish governments.

Mr Adams described the cleric's former base in Clonard as "the cradle of the peace process". He said: "There would not be a peace process at this time without his diligent doggedness and his refusal to give up."

Seven years after the Good Friday Agreement, Father Reid was again called upon to help the peace process move on. The presence of the cleric and Methodist minister the Rev Harold Good as the IRA put their weapons beyond use was vital in convincing those sceptical of republicans' intentions.

Stormont First Minister Peter Robinson also hailed his contribution. "Alec opposed violence and understood that the key to making progress was through reaching out to others," he said.