Tributes paid to veteran Northern Ireland journalist Stephen Grimason | Northern Ireland

Tributes have been paid to the veteran Northern Ireland journalist Stephen Grimason after his death at the age of 67.

The former BBC Northern Ireland political editor etched his face into history as he broke the news in April 1998 of the Good Friday agreement.

Grimason, originally from Lurgan, County Armagh, later went on to work for the Stormont administration as the director of communications.

He spoke publicly over the past year about having cancer and said he had received well wishes from the former UK prime minister Tony Blair, among others.

In an interview with the PA news agency at Queen’s University Belfast in January when he and the former UTV political editor Ken Reid were honoured with the chancellor’s medal for services to journalism, he described leaving Stormont as “a bit of a wrench”, recalling “being surrounded by tremendous people”.

Looking back, he said he had had a “seat at the table for an awful lot of pretty dramatic executive meetings” in the 2000s.

Grimason cut his teeth working for local newspapers including the Lurgan Mail, the Ulster Star in Lisburn and the Banbridge Chronicle, as well as regional papers, the former Sunday News newspapers and the News Letter.

Speaking at Queen’s about the then political stalemate, Grimason noted the “tide of Irish and Northern Irish politics goes in and out”, adding: “If you’re not careful and you don’t lead, you’ll be left on the beach.”

He also spoke of covering some of the darkest days of the Troubles, including atrocities within days of each other in January 1992: an IRA bomb that killed eight construction workers at Teebane, County Tyrone, and the killing of five people by loyalists at the Sean Graham bookmakers on the Ormeau Road in Belfast.

“I was the first reporter at Teebane. In the end, I think that the big success of the peace process was that actually peace, or an imperfect version of it, did win through,” he said.

Adam Smyth, the director of BBC Northern Ireland, paid tribute to Grimason. “Stephen Grimason possessed the special talents that only the very best editors and correspondents exhibit – the audience always came away from his broadcasts feeling they knew and understood the political landscape better, and they trusted what he had to say,” he said.

“Stephen’s list of contacts and sources was so extensive he regularly seemed to be one step ahead of everyone else – including the politicians. His contribution to BBC Northern Ireland is deeply appreciated and we offer our sincerest condolences to Stephen’s family.”