"I think his willingness to reach out and to work positively with Sinn Féin was a genuine endeavour to make things better for the people who live here.
Will I miss him? Well, maybe I can get to know him better now that he is retiring to the backbenches. I would like that. He is a fascinating figure, with many facets to his character. In my dealings with him I have always found him cordial, good-humoured and respectful."
So wrote Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams in today's Guardian. Strange to think that the leader of political republicanism could find such respect for the man whose slogan was never surrender. (But I wonder whether Paisley would return the compliment?)
Some might argue that Adams is simply showing the respect for another member of the political class who prolonged Northern Ireland's sectarian agony. But that would be harsh. Adams himself displayed great courage in leading the way to peace, notwithstanding his share of responsibility for the dark days of the Troubles. (Sharrock and Devenport's book, Man of War, Man of Peace, gave a dramatic insight into Adams' role in the birth of the peace process.) Those of us who remember the shattering violence of the Seventies and Eighties once thought peace was an impossible dream. See my earlier post about the end of the British Army's operations in Northern Ireland.
We may question what drove Paisley to join Sinn Féin in government in Stormont. Was it personal glory, in the position of first minister? It's unlikely that the perennial outsider would have found this sufficient reason to abandon his forty year campaign against Irish republicanism. Better, surely, not to question the motives and to rejoice in this most unlikely of political coalitions.
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