News Flash from Northern Ireland - Paisley to Step Down as First Minister

It was reported this evening by Reuters that Antrim-born Ian Paisley will be resigning his position as First Minister of Northern Ireland in May. The Presbyterian minister, long infamous for his vitriolic diatribes against the Catholic population of the world, entered into the power sharing agreement brought about by the Good Friday agreement of 1998, which was implemented in 2007.

"No Surrender!" became compromise, after years of hatred. Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness, a former IRA commander, became Deputy First Minister. In an oxymoronic move, Northern Ireland's "Dr. No" became famous to a new generation for saying "yes" to power-sharing with the Irish Republicans, and that may eventually have been the reason for the surprise resignation. Paisley was initially to have served a four year term.

The 81-year old evangelist, head of the Democratic Unionist Party, the largest unionist party in Northern Ireland, and leader of his own insurgent Free Presbyterian Church since 1951, was first elected to Parliament in 1970 and to the European Parliament in 1979. According to CNN, in January he was forced to stand down as leader of the anti-Catholic sect because people were disappointed by his compromise.

No overt reason has been given for his resignation; his son, Ian, Jr. was forced to resign from the coalition due to ethical misconduct, but Dr. Paisley has sworn that had nothing to do with his resignation as First Minister. Last summer, Martin McGuinness visited New York and was feted; he said then that Paisley was ill.

Reaction to the surprise move was that this is the end of a 40-year old era for Northern Ireland politics, and people on both sides of the struggle had praise for Dr. Paisley's leadership.

Patricia Jameson-Sammartano

Culture Editor, WGT

http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL0455485820080305?sp=true&pageNumber=3&virtualBrandChannel=0

http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL0424769920080304

http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL044936320080304?sp=true

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/03/04/paisley.quits.ap/index.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7270000/newsid_7278300/7278389.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&asb=1&news=1&bbcws=1

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/04/AR2008030401438.html?hpid=moreheadlines

A United Northern Ireland

Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland Martin McGuinness addressed an enthusiastic crowd of well-wishers Thursday at the offices of Thomas Moran of Mutual of Omaha. McGuinness appeared with Peter Robinson, Minister for Finance and Personnel, at a reception co-hosted by Moran and Bill Flynn.

Photo credit: Patricia Jameson-Sammartano

Both ministers acknowledged the assistance of the United States in the Northern Ireland Peace Process, and both also warned of danger to the process if the rest of the world forgets them. Mc Guinness stated that the evolution of the NI Executive is being studied as a model for conflict resolution throughout the world. Robinson especially stressed that Northern Ireland is a marketable commodity, and that went over well with the audience, most of whom were from the business community.

McGuinness is a former Irish Republican Army Chief of Staff and Robinson is deputy leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, headed by Dr. Ian Paisley. It was moving to see the former

adversaries unite in collaboration for the Northern Ireland Executive, although the missing man in the room was Paisley, who at 81 and in fragile health could not make the trip.

The quote for the evening belonged to McGuinness: "I like Ian Paisley; I like working with him, and at one time I didn't like him at all."

Patricia Jameson-Sammartano

Culture Editor, WGT

http://www.irelandemb.org/n_ireland.html