Wednesday, April 04, 2007
“I am also proud of my Irish roots”
As noted earlier, the DUP leader Ian Paisley went to Dublin today, Farmleigh to be exact where he was met by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern - the RTÉ video report of the resultant handshake is here and the BBC report is here [realplayer file]. The quote in the title is from Ian Paisley’s speech, in which he said, “I am proud to be an Ulsterman, but I am also proud of my Irish roots… although I would put the Ulsterman before the Irishman in my Constitution.” Ian Paisley has also been interviewed by Stephen Nolan [??? - Ed] partial transcript here
From the BBC report on tonight’s interview, to be broadcast at 10.40pm BBC1
But when it came to the crunch, he said he was prepared to “step out of the class of the coward into the class of the man who is prepared to sell himself and his reputation for the sake of this country”.
“We were told if we didn’t do this then it was going to be curtains for our country,” he says.
“How would I have faced my people if I had allowed this country to have the union destroyed and the setting up of a joint government by the south of Ireland?”
There’s another interesting exchange..
Does Mr Paisley still hate “Sinn Fein/IRA”?
“I hate the principles of the IRA and I hate the murders that they carried out, and I hate what they did to innocent people,” says Mr Paisley.
What about Gerry Adams, who sat beside Mr Paisley in that already iconic photograph at Stormont - is he still to be considered “an enemy of the Protestant people”?
“I am not in a position to say what his present feeling is at this moment, but we know his policies, and know what they are.
“Now, having said that, there has been a change and in a few days’ time the same Mr Adams will stand beside me and he will take an oath that he is going to accept the police force of Northern Ireland.”
One other point to note is that Farmleigh has previously been used to host visits from “the Chinese Premier, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, the King and Queen of Malaysia and of course on the Day of Welcomes on 1st May 2004, Farmleigh played host to the 25 Heads of State from Europe.”
Pete Baker @ 07:18 PM
Did anyone else, hearing his warm words and seeing the handshake with Bertie, think that perhaps the man we have seen and heard the last two weeks could be the stepford paisley?
Posted by on Apr 04, 2007 @ 08:22 PM‘But when it came to the crunch, he said he was prepared to “step out of the class of the coward into the class of the man who is prepared to sell himself and his reputation for the sake of this country”.’
What did Paisely call David Trimble when he stepped forward, after Paisley ran away in 1997?
This man makes my stomach turn, not for what he is doing but for having denied others the opportunity for so long and having cost 1,000’s of lives in the meantime, how can he look at himself in the mirror every morning.
Robin Sterling the Ballymena Councillor was right in his desciption of Paisley, a liar and a deceiver. Sterling may not have many principles I agree with but he has principles and sticks by them including his apology to the people who voted for him on the basis of the DUP manifesto, in contrast to RIP, who is still making excuses.
His reputation such as it was lies in ruins.
Posted by on Apr 04, 2007 @ 08:33 PM“How would I have faced my people if I had allowed this country to have the union destroyed and the setting up of a joint government by the south of Ireland?”
Er, when other unionists made similar comments they were denounced for giving into blackmail.
The man’s got a brass neck!
Posted by on Apr 04, 2007 @ 08:37 PMSome of these comments are quite remarkable: it’s almost hard to believe he has said them.
Why was he so hostile to previous unionist leaders? Because they got more votes than him?
Posted by on Apr 04, 2007 @ 08:38 PMHere is a man showing great courage,leadership and statesmanship. We need Peace.We all have a grave responsibility to create the conditions for that Peace.It does not require us to forget the past merely to learn enough not to repeat our mistakes.I hope Stephen Nolan is conscious of that in his interview later tonight.
Dr.Paisley meets the definition of a leader-"He acts with courage,stands tall in the face of adversity and is prepared to go where few have gone before in the knowledge that example is the greatest school of humanity.”
I am amazed how the media is so focused on the past of our Unionist leaders, Rev.Paisley in particular, and is prepared to ask them hard questions. I look forward to Nolan interviewing Gerry Adams,Gerry Kelly or Martin McGuiness about their direct involvement in terrorism over the past forty years.I will not be holding my breath while I wait.
T.RuthPosted by on Apr 04, 2007 @ 08:46 PMThe British Government really must have put the gun to his head, to do a deal or accept joint sovereignty.
They at last called his bluff.
What a coward he turned out to be!Posted by on Apr 04, 2007 @ 08:46 PM“what a coward he turned out to be”
Articles 2&3;from the Irish constitution gone
United Ireland gone
Unionist veto Assured
The Union Assured
RUC exhonerated
IRA criminalised
Republicanism finished
MI5 super-base in Holywood with no safeguards
DUP in charge of all Nationalist finances
CATCH YOURSELF ON FOOL HE GOT EVERYTHING HE WANTED
Posted by on Apr 04, 2007 @ 09:00 PMPosted by T.Ruth on Apr 04, 2007 @ 08:46 PM
Politicians adore obedient people like you, it makes their lives so much easier. I hope you don’t have an open fire.
Posted by on Apr 04, 2007 @ 09:02 PMAye right: the British government threatened Paisley with “joint sovereignty” . . . do you think anyone told Bertie? Can you imagine his face? “What, *me*, be jointly responsible for da nort?” First he’d blanch, then he’d have a strong drink, and finally, conclusively even, he’d then say, “away and **** yourself”. And since, as the dogs in the street know, given that HMG DIDN’T threaten Paisley with anything so implausible, why is this lie the latest of his long career of falsehoods? I’ll tell you why: a very, very guilty conscience. How cheaply that man has been bought! A mess of potage indeed.
Posted by on Apr 04, 2007 @ 09:06 PMThe reason that Dr Paisley, sensibly I believe, has decided to share power with Sinn Fein is that he is an intelligent enough man to realise that he has got all that he will be able to get from republicans.
Once Sinn Fein effectively decommissioned the IRA through handing over the weapons and supporting the criminal justice system, there was no credible way that the DUP could go on refusing to share power with a party with such a significant elected presence.
It is only a very small minority of DUP supporters who are stupid enough to believe that they could keep Sinn Fein from Stormont forever.
No British Government would stand for it.
Even Jim Allister was not stupid enough to suggest that Sinn Fein should never be in government.
I am not an apologist for Ian Paisley but I do recognise his opposition to the Good Friday Agreement as a legitimate political position.
After all a very significant minority of unionists felt the same way as the DUP.
They were actually proven correct by the failure of the IRA to decommission during the life of the first Assembly and by the Northern Bank robbery.
The final reason I believe Ian Paisley has gone into power is that he believes he is truly a servant of the people and realises that now, the vast majority of unionist people do genuinely want to see a power-sharing executive and that to refuse to do that is not a tenable political position.Posted by on Apr 04, 2007 @ 09:58 PMTime Will Tell
Yes, time WILL tell a different story in a few years.
“Articles 2&3;from the Irish constitution gone”
Yes, gone to appease those unionists, who in turn, signed up for the GFA and all that it entails. And when the near future brings a nationalist majority, unionists will see a funeral for their beloved union. Articles 2&3;? who needs them? They can always be reinstated at a later date, if need be. No big deal.
“United Ireland gone”
How can it be gone if it never existed? Ireland will be united in time.
“Unionist veto Assured”
There’s no unionist veto that will ever prevent progress.
“The Union Assured”
See above!
“RUC exhonerated”
From what? There probably isn’t a single individual in this world, outside of blinded unionists/loyalists that, don’t see the old corrupt and collusion ridden RUC (disbanded mind you) as a sectarian force for a sectarian people. Don’t fool yourself!
“Republicanism finished”
Not finished at all, just on standby. There’s a new breed of republicans that will take the torch from here.
Posted by on Apr 04, 2007 @ 10:19 PMThere’s something almost Richard Nixon-like about the Rev.
Posted by on Apr 04, 2007 @ 11:00 PMAs a unionist I was never a fan of the politics of Paisley of old.
That said I think what he has done in the last two weeks takes NI into totally new territory.
There couldn’t have been a more emphatic handshake today. Nor a warmer message.
I think that the unequivocal nature of his actions do make it clear that unionism is now taking its tactics into a new mode for a new set of circumstances.
Posted by on Apr 04, 2007 @ 11:11 PMThough he dodged the tough questions I thought he was able to pull off a positive interview with Nolan, which I have watched.
Posted by on Apr 04, 2007 @ 11:13 PMHe also bought himself some insurance today. The people of the south will take the handshake and the kind words to their hearts. They will be less inclined to blame Paisley if things go wrong. The better his relationship with the south the more boxed into the institutions in the north will Sinn Fein be.
It was good politics as well as good sense.
Posted by on Apr 04, 2007 @ 11:19 PMWhat an awful interview in what looks like a really amateurish-eg-trip-of-a-programme.
The audience, what there is of it, is even peppered with regulars from his radio show.
And he simply doesn’t listen to what is being said to him, so you get a whole load of tangents tossed back (so he has that in common with Paisley).
Paisley comes across as more and more intoxicated - presumably only with lure of power and his sudden fan club.
Meanwhile, on ‘Nolan Live’, “thousands are calling in”. Aye .....
Posted by on Apr 04, 2007 @ 11:26 PMAhh theres good times ahead people I’d have to say. We’re definately moving into an exciting period. Perhaps this is the beginnings of a proper shared identity. If we can all agree to be Irish as in ‘of the island of Ireland’ then we have the steadiest of foundations. It doesn’t mean Unionists compromising their integrity as British, but embracing their own particular regional British-ness. The same way a Welshman might.
In return we Republicans will mature a bit and realise this is perfectly alright. We will always have a certain aspect of Britishness to whatever Ireland we end up with. In *my* United Irish Republic the north would remain in the commonwealth. Largly Unionist areas would get regional autonomy, and would continue to elect MPs to West Minster as well as TDs in the Dail. A British governemnt observation committee will be allowed to monitor the way Unionists are treated in the north, until Unionists feel confident and safe enough in this new Ireland to govern and be governed without that particular lifeline.
We would promote Ulster Scots as a equal alternative (and indeed partner) to Gaelic culture. If for nothing else than to attract that massive Ulster Scots diasphoria going untapped.But also because, as a group of people who have been on this island since before the USA was even a country, their culture is just as intregal to Ireland as our own.
Aye its all twistin and shakin now I’d say. I don’t think this country will end the way our fathers thought it would (well Im still a youngster of 18 so maybe I should say grandfather). Neither true green UI nor true orange NI but hopefully a healthy mixture of every thing. No one answer is the right one anyway so maybe thats for the best.
Posted by on Apr 04, 2007 @ 11:50 PMAgreed.
What a terrible, appeal-to-the-lowest-common-denominator, rabble-rousing, patronising load of oul balls!
Even the new media add-ons are a disaster.
Why do we have to endure such drivel - taxi drivers don’t have Tvs in their car, so who is it aimed at?
Posted by on Apr 04, 2007 @ 11:52 PMFrustrated Democrat:
“This man makes my stomach turn, not for what he is doing but for having denied others the opportunity for so long and having cost 1,000’s of lives in the meantime, how can he look at himself in the mirror every morning.”
As a note to this discussion, it is wrong, as many have suggested, that by Ian Paisley rejecting Sunningdale and the like he was responsible for the troubles and 1,000 of murders. This is a completely horrendous statement, the Republican movement were not involved in Sunningdale and therefore their murderous campaign would have continued no matter what would have happened at Stormont.
Also others cannot stoop to this level, eh Sir Reg??As they were also opposed to power sharing at the time!
Posted by on Apr 05, 2007 @ 01:08 AMdamnned if he does.... damnned if he doesn’t… you just can’t please people!!
Posted by on Apr 05, 2007 @ 02:04 AMCorrect, the Provos would have went on killing regardless of Sunningdale living or dying.
The tragedy is that blood was spilt in pursuit of a noble goal which was sold out utterly by Adams and Co who have settled for less.
I sincerely regret the military operations which resulted in any deaths while his band of careerists and touts were in charge. And that’s most of them.
No wonder Paisley can be so magmanimous: he’s won.Posted by on Apr 05, 2007 @ 02:07 AMIt seems Dr Death is getting used to spouting Blarney. Maybe he is a future Irish President. He has the credentials as his guff about the Diaspora wil be every bit as vacuous as the two Marys. I notice the current “President” is on the next post warmly embracing a sectarian killer. Bloodied hands across the divide. Talk about Connolly’s carnival of reaction.
Posted by on Apr 05, 2007 @ 02:57 AMHe’s got a neck like a jockey’s bollix but Paisley is no coward.
Strangely I miss the Paisley of old. The spittle-flecked, bulging-eyed, vein-popping, ranting and raving cleric-thug recruiter for the IRA was a character fiction couldn’t invent. Kind of like General Buck Naked in Liberia. I can explain Paisley 2.0 (cynically). I just can’t quite believe it. Look at how shocked people are at the man acting like a normal human being!
It’s a good thing though.
Adams has always been that fellow you play pool with and when you come back from the jacks the balls are all in different positions.
Posted by on Apr 05, 2007 @ 06:07 AMso… a fat, overbearing bullying windbag comes on the telly, patronises his supporters,hectors his opponents and refuses to listen to the other side or compromise his prejudices no matter what the objective evidence to the contrary...... and Ian didn’t come across much better
I’ll get me sash
Posted by on Apr 05, 2007 @ 08:56 AMPaisley has been demonised for 40 years and it is about to pay off big style for him.
I would believe that most ordinary Southerners would expect to be meeting the anti-Christ when the first get to meet him. Instead they will meet a charming, humourous old man who would probably make a nice Grandad. It is called seduction.
I expect a romance between the DUP and the ROI over the next couple of years. Whether this ends in a loving relationship or a fist-flying break-up is anyone’s guess.
Posted by on Apr 05, 2007 @ 09:17 AM
