Paisley gives McGuinness words of encouragement

Ian Paisley had words of encouragement for his Sinn Féin deputy minister as he prepared to bow out as leader of the Northern Ireland Executive.

The Democratic Unionist Party veteran hands over as first minister to Peter Robinson today after a year at the helm of the power-sharing government.

Mr Paisley, 82, said he had agreed to work with Republican deputy first minister Martin McGuinness despite his past involvement in the IRA to create a better future for everybody in the North.

“I will miss the government in the sense that I was occupied with it for a year in a very intimate way and you can’t just cut and say forget about it,” he said.

“I suppose that the deputy and myself had some very strong arguments in this room (at Stormont Castle in Belfast) and in my own room but we never used bad language against one another. We were prepared to differ and we were prepared to do what we felt at the end of the day was best for the people of Northern Ireland and I wish him well as I wish everybody well that are in the politics of peace and harmony.”

The North Antrim MP refused to say whether he would contest the next Westminster elections expected by 2010. He admitted there would be challenges ahead for the leaders of the devolved administration.

“I have found a sea-change in the whole attitude of people not only towards myself but towards what we are doing here.

“These 12 months that we have had have been one of the most important 12 months of Ulster’s modern history.

“We have come from the darkness to light, we have come out of the power and grip of terrorism into freedom and peace and I think that we can rejoice in that.

“Those that will be responsible for government will do that today.”

He added today was not one for fighting literally but one for battling within the parameter of peace and democracy.