George Mitchell has won admiration from across the political divide in Northern Ireland for his work to boost the peace process.

In the confrontational world of Irish politics, few people have managed to achieve such unstinting, if not completely unanimous, praise.

Talks chairman George Mitchell: Patient on good days and bad

The former United States senator brought with him both skill and an enormous amount of patience to the task of chairing the Northern Ireland peace talks.

He had demonstrated toughness as well - helping to force President George Bush to break his pledge of No New Taxes, and opposing President Bill Clinton's early plans to scale back on social security.

He needed all those qualities in Northern Ireland as the negotiations dragged on for what he has called "two seemingly endless years".

More often than not the talks were bogged down in endless arguments about procedures and agendas.

When the debate moved on to matters of substance, Senator Mitchell demonstrated a shrewd understanding of the intricacies of the local political situation.

His decision to impose a deadline helped force Northern Ireland's divided politicians to reach agreement on Good Friday 1998.

In March 1999, with the peace process again in deadlock over the question of paramilitary arms, the senator told the BBC he would be willing to help again if required.

The former majority leader in the US senate had first become involved in Northern Ireland as part of a White House effort to boost the local economy.

That role soon extended to considering the question of how to dispose of paramilitary weapons, and then to job of chairing the Stormont peace talks.

Senator Mitchell later conceded that he flew to Northern Ireland to oversee the negotiations between the two governments and the main parties "wrapped in a cocoon of naivete."

He remained intensely involved in the talks process, at some considerable personal cost, away from home at a time of family bereavement and when his wife was pregnant.

His patience was not always admired, with some critics taking the view he gave too much latitude to participants in the talks who were over-fond of their own opinions.

But after a final 36 hours of non-stop negotiations, the talks finally ended in success on Good Friday, 10 April 1998.

"I took a deep breath and felt tears welling in my eyes. I had to sit down. " Senator Mitchell later said in his book Making Peace.