The imminent departure of Ian Paisley from
leadership of the Democratic Unionist Party and from being First Minister –
following his departure from being Moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church –
means that a dominating presence will be no more (or at least much
reduced). Some reflection on his role in
Ulster
life over 50 years may now be possible.
Ian Paisley had a deep sense of the
religious and political fears that were so much part of the Ulster Protestant
psyche. He could play on them superbly
well. He had a genus for raucous theatre
– that this was tragedy for many people has been left unsaid in the glowing
tributes.
The outsider spent a lifetime throwing
rocks at the key institutions of the Ulster Protestant community – the Unionist
Party and the Presbyterian Church. He
often reduced them to immobility and fear – leadership always knew that they
would come under fierce and relentless criticism if they sought accommodation
or to develop relationships. Audaciously
in calling his party the Democratic Unionist Party and his church the Free
Presbyterian Church he was making a claim that the community’s key institutions
had apostatized. Finally he effectively
destroyed the Unionist Party.
The Ulster Protestant community entered a
deep crisis in the late 1960s – which was around how to respond to an
increasingly restless minority in its midst and how to deal with a changing Britain which
was now bereft of empire. Paisley was at once a symptom of that crisis and someone
who deepened it by his actions. To find
a positive way forward was always going to be difficult but Paisley
made the task impossible.
Even Paisley
discerned, however, that reality couldn’t be kept indefinitely at bay and that
fierce negativity had its limits. A deal
had to be done. The outsider became
insider. The big issue is: What is the
current position of the Protestant community?
In what state has Paisley left it? He has been a bridge for some to come over to
pragmatism and compromise. Many,
however, have been left unprepared for the necessity of a deal – they have been
fed on the junk food of no surrender.
The drum of betrayal beats – but how loudly?
David Stevens