Paisley and McGuinness to be sworn into office today

DUP leader Ian Paisley and Sinn Féin chief negotiator Martin McGuinness will today be sworn in as respective first and deputy first ministers of the new powersharing administration in Northern Ireland.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Tanaiste Michael McDowell will attend the ceremony together, just two days after Mr McDowell demanded that Mr Ahern make a full public statement explaining his personal finances.

The two men will travel to Belfast on the Government jet, along with Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern and PD deputy leader Liz O’Donnell, who was formerly a junior minister at Foreign Affairs. However, Mr Ahern and Mr McDowell’s differences are expected to take a back seat to the historic matters at hand.