Paisley 'doing very well', says son

Former Northern Ireland First Minister Ian Paisley is doing “very well” in hospital as he continues to recover from serious illness, his son said.

Ian Paisley jnr said his family wanted to thank all those who have sent messages of support since his 85-year-old father was admitted to the Ulster Hospital near Belfast.

“He is doing very well,” said Mr Paisley, who succeeded the former Democratic Unionist leader as North Antrim MP.

“We are incredibly grateful to the many hundreds of people who have contacted us and indicated that they are praying for us and praying for my father.

“I am glad that he is making progress, we continue to need distance and space.”

Mr Paisley, 85, was rushed to the Ulster Hospital at Dundonald at the start of the month suffering from apparent heart failure. At one stage he was in intensive care.

Known as Lord Bannside since he was made a peer in 2010, he fell ill just 10 days after preaching his final sermon as a church minister.

Mr Paisley is a former moderator and founding member of the Free Presbyterian Church and was MP for north Antrim for almost 40 years.

There had been concerns several years ago about his health, when he lost weight and looked gaunt.

But he made a good recovery from heart problems and while his voice was showing signs of obvious weakness, some people who were there for his farewell sermon at the Martyrs Memorial Church in Belfast on January 27 remarked on how well he appeared for his age.

After withdrawing from church and public life he was planning to write his autobiography.

Mr Paisley, once a fierce opponent of sharing government powers with nationalists and republicans in Northern Ireland, was elected First Minister in May 2007 with Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness, a former IRA leader in Derry, as deputy First Minister.

It was a remarkable partnership, the two men becoming firm professional and personal friends, and who were later nicknamed the “Chuckle Brothers”.