Why I would accept a Sinn Fein first minister – Ian Paisley
If Northern Ireland’s unionist parties follow the ‘unionist unity’ path into a single party it will only benefit those who want power
Ian Paisley, News Letter
In being asked to write this article the News Letter posed five questions they wanted addressed. I am going to take those questions and give you my answers to them as best I can.
Question 1: What do you think Northern Ireland’s Union with Great Britain will look like in 2021?
Eleven years is not a very long time. It may seem 2021 is a brave bit away but when you reach 84 years of age, as I have, you learn that time is very swift indeed.
I believe that the Union with Great Britain is strong today and that the establishment of devolution across the Union has in fact strengthened that bond.
While devolution gives each region a degree of independence to address local issues in a manner best suited to them, it also requires the Union to operate better between the regions too.
I believe that this strengthens our hand as a nation when dealing with Europe and it also means that the British government has a responsibility to deal with the various first ministers in a very direct way and that is my idea of direct rule! So as far as the Union goes, I am very optimistic about it.
Question 2: What would you like it to look like?
I would like the Union by 2021 to have curtailed the authority it has been handing away to Europe.
The recession we have been going through has taught us the importance of financial independence and what a disaster entering the Eurozone would have been for us.
Furthermore, I would like the work of the Commonwealth to be maintained and strengthened. Indeed, I hope by 2021 that the Republic of Ireland will have re-joined the Commonwealth.
Questions 3 and 4: Is unionist unity essential for the achievement of your vision? And, if so, what does that mean?
Unionist unity in its broadest sense within Great Britain is essential for the health of the nation. A unified sense of loyalty to the throne and to the constitution ought to be top of the agenda with each of the devolved institutions.
Within Northern Ireland, unionist unity in the sense of one grand political party is, in my opinion, a non-runner.
The unionist community here has more choice available to them today than they ever had and they need to look at what each unionist party is offering and make their choice.
Limiting that choice is not in the interests of the province but merely in the interests of those who want power.
We need to be careful to protect what we have achieved by opening that choice for the unionist community and not let others who have failed to secure a mandate for what brand of unionism they are offering undermine it.
Cooperation for the greater good of the province is of course important. The challenge for unionist politicians now is to engage with the electorate on the day-to-day issues that concern them and see that they are offering and delivering the necessary goods.
Thank God we are entering a period of political life where that is the challenge instead of the terrorists agenda dominating.
Question 5: Could you accept a Sinn Fein first minister?
I have to accept the will of the people.
For many years I had to accept that the Democratic Unionist Party that I founded and led was not the majority party. But, I worked at it and when I left off the leadership I left my party as having the largest mandate in Europe, the largest mandate in Westminster and the largest mandate in Stormont – we even had a few Lords!
Sinn Fein didn’t become the majority party on my watch.
Naturally as a unionist I will continue to play my part to prevent that happening in the future. Roll on the centenary of our beloved Ulster for I believe it will be grand!
