The Irish priest involved in the talks that led to the Spanish terrorist group Eta this week announcing a ceasefire said today that the alleged paramilitary force's military wing Batasuna played a crucial role.
West Belfast priest Fr Alec Reid, who is heavily involved in the Northern Irish peace process, said Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero should recognise Batasuna's contribution.
"That party deserves credit from Zapatero because they opened it up," Fr Reid said from the Basque city of Bilbao.
"There are some great leaders on the left wing [of Basque politics]."
Speaking on the first official day of the ceasefire, called by guerrilla group Eta after 38 years of violence, Fr Reid said he had been visiting to the Basque Country regularly for four years to try to help bring about peace.
The 74-year-old, who recently acted as a witness to the decommissioning of IRA weapons, said members of Batasuna told him as long ago as 2003 that they were "prepared to trust the dynamics of dialogue".
That was a big step forward for Batasuna, which has been banned by Spain since 2002 and labelled a terrorist organisation by the European Union.
Among the Batasuna figures praised by Fr Reid was party leader Arnaldo Otegi, who is due to appear in court next Wednesday and is likely to be jailed for breaking bail terms.
The Spanish government has said Mr Otegi will not be treated any more leniently in the light of Eta's ceasefire.
Fr Reid acknowledged he found it difficult to bring people together from across the political spectrum in Spain. "Eta isn't the problem," he said.
"The problem is you don't have a culture of dialogue and therefore of democracy. For them [Spaniards], dialogue is me trying to persuade you that I'm right."
But he said he was confident the right-wing Popular Party, which has demanded further concessions from Eta as a prerequisite for peace talks, would eventually be persuaded to join other political parties at the negotiating table.
In Ireland, former Northern Ireland secretary the late Mo Mowlam, former Irish president Mary Robinson and her successor Mary McAleese have all been credited with helping in the process.