The late Ian Paisley, former leader of the DUP, enjoying a lighter moment with party colleagues Bert Johnston and Maurice Morrow when they met in Enniskillen
THE DEATH of former First Minister and DUP leader Ian Paisley, has led to widespread attempts to pin down just who the 88-year-old was and what he will be remembered for.
‘From firebrand pastor to peacemaker’ has been the overarching description of Paisley in the days following his death, and locally on the political spectrum, there has been an acknowledgement of the many sides of the former leader.
On a ‘one-to-one’ basis, Councillor John O’Kane, who met him on a number of occasions described the Free Presbyterian founder as ‘jovial’ and always ‘cracking jokes’.
However, he also said that Paisley will be remembered for his strident opposition to the civil rights movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
“People mellow with age, even the most fiery of people – they mellow to some extent with age,” said Cllr O’Kane.
“At the end of the day, I don’t suppose there’s any questions on his sincerity in his religious beliefs. He was an old style evangaleist and he believed things as Catholics we would certianly would have found insulting and so on.
“To some extent it became a bit of a joke his allegations about the Catholic church and about Catholics generally, it was just the rantings of a bigot. However at the end of the day, whether you liked him or loathed him, he was a major player in Northern Ireland.”
And on his decision to share power with Sinn Fein in 2007?
“There was nobody else who could deliver the unionist population to power sharing with Sinn Fein. We have reaped the benefits ever since.”
Cllr O’Kane was reluctant to speculate on just what history’s view of Paisley would be.
“Time will tell eventually, history will make a considered judgement on it but whatever you judge him you couldn’t ignore him.”
Council chairman, the DUP’s Bert Johnston, was full of praise for the ‘friend’ that he first met 35 years ago.
“Sometimes when I saw him on his political orations it seemed different to the man when you actually meet him,” said Councillor Johnston, “he was very warm and cheerful and gave you a good firm handshake – you were not shaking hands with a fish. He was Ian to me and I was Bert to him.”
When he heard of his death, Cllr Johnston was ‘saddened’, and said that Paisley will be remembered as a ‘peacemaker’.
“What was done, there was no other unionist leader that could have done what he did. The vast majority trusted him that he had taken us on the right road.”
He also said that many Catholics support the DUP because of foundations laid by its former leader.
“We believe that many in the Catholic community have now supported the DUP because of their stand against abortion and against a lot of the other immoral things like gay marriage.
“And we believe that a lot of Catholics are more supportive of us than ever they were and we believe that was Dr Paisley’s doing, his spirituality, I believe, has led not just the Protestant people but the Roman Catholic people to cherish the values that he held dear.”
And what will he be remembered as?
“A lot of people don’t see that side, but having known him personally the one I will remember best is his warmth.”
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