13.12.04
Irelandclick.com
We Say--
Who will save the Doc from himself?
Did Ian Paisley really make his blood and thunder speech at Ballymena because he wanted to sabotage the deal in the making?
That’s not very likely because under his leadership the DUP was set to seal a historic deal.
The party which made its name in lording it over Catholics and vowing to smash Sinn Féin was on course to make the mother of all U-turns by joining republicans in a powersharing government.
The peace train came off the rails not because Paisley or his lieutenants changed their minds but because the Doc couldn’t help himself from spewing out more bile and vitriol against the ‘Barbarians at the gate’. After 40-plus years of castigating Catholics, it was just beyond the DUP leader to keep his considerable trap closed for a few more days.
Thus came the rabble-rousing speech. The fault didn’t lie with the architects of the new agreement but with Paisley’s lack of experience in peacemaking. After all, this is a chief negotiator who hasn’t yet brought himself to shake hands with Bertie Ahern yet never mind discuss demilitarisation with Martin McGuinness.
And did the IRA only refuse to have photos taken of the final act of decommissioning because of the Big Man’s demand for humiliation? Not so, though he certainly vindicated their stance. The reality is that the IRA had long ago ruled out gifting Paisley photos he could have reproduced on every election-time t-shirt just below the word ‘SURRENDER’ and above the legend, ‘Vote DUP’.
The makings of a breathtakingly comprehensive deal are still there. If someone in the DUP can gag the DUP leader between now and the weekend, we could still make a momentous breakthrough.
We Say--
Who will save the Doc from himself?
Did Ian Paisley really make his blood and thunder speech at Ballymena because he wanted to sabotage the deal in the making?
That’s not very likely because under his leadership the DUP was set to seal a historic deal.
The party which made its name in lording it over Catholics and vowing to smash Sinn Féin was on course to make the mother of all U-turns by joining republicans in a powersharing government.
The peace train came off the rails not because Paisley or his lieutenants changed their minds but because the Doc couldn’t help himself from spewing out more bile and vitriol against the ‘Barbarians at the gate’. After 40-plus years of castigating Catholics, it was just beyond the DUP leader to keep his considerable trap closed for a few more days.
Thus came the rabble-rousing speech. The fault didn’t lie with the architects of the new agreement but with Paisley’s lack of experience in peacemaking. After all, this is a chief negotiator who hasn’t yet brought himself to shake hands with Bertie Ahern yet never mind discuss demilitarisation with Martin McGuinness.
And did the IRA only refuse to have photos taken of the final act of decommissioning because of the Big Man’s demand for humiliation? Not so, though he certainly vindicated their stance. The reality is that the IRA had long ago ruled out gifting Paisley photos he could have reproduced on every election-time t-shirt just below the word ‘SURRENDER’ and above the legend, ‘Vote DUP’.
The makings of a breathtakingly comprehensive deal are still there. If someone in the DUP can gag the DUP leader between now and the weekend, we could still make a momentous breakthrough.
