Paisley proves he never meant business

IAN PAISLEY’S assertion, on his 79th birthday, that he will never speak with the elected representatives of the majority of Northern nationalists in any circumstances shows he was never serious about sharing power.

His sackcloth-and-ashes demand of republicans was meant to scupper a peace deal last December.

If the DUP continues to reject the Good Friday agreement, the only fair and reasonable alternative is to reactivate those parts of the agreement that unionists cannot veto, eg, full implementation of the human rights section and the Patten proposals on policing and the re-establishment of the all-Ireland bodies. This will require the active engagement of the Government.

Obviously the best way to push Fianna Fáil in the right direction is to vote for an all-Ireland party as FF will then be under pressure to live up to its republican party label for fear of losing more votes to Sinn Féin.

This strategy has already had some success in the North where the SDLP has been forced to move from being a post-nationalist to a republican party as a response to the SF surge.

Dr Sean Marlow

90 Willow Park Road

Dublin 11