Goodbye Ian Paisley, And Good Riddance

Rumours have been circulating for some time that the end of Ian Paisley's political career was nigh, and today we got confirmation from the horse's mouth that indeed the DUP leader is to resign from the office of First Minister and from the position of head of his party.

It's not really any surprise that the comments from some quarters have practically ignored the decades of frustration that Paisley caused for democrats in the north of this country. Indeed, Martin McGuinness led tributes to the North Antrim MP, offering such glowing references that one would almost think that Sinn Féin are to write to the Pope asking that Paisley be considered for beatification. Perhaps it suits all concerned to airbrush out the full horrors of the past.

There are also those who are congratulating Paisley for delivering powersharing- the fact is that powersharing could have been delivered many times over. It was Paisley himself and his accolytes who delayed progress in the first place and prevented powersharing from happening for so long, so it doesn't really make any sense to thank him for catching himself on and letting democracy finally embed (conveniently when he had reached the top of the greasy pole). We shouldn't give praise and thank Paisley for finally deciding that nationalists had a right to play a role in the governance of the north- he was just catching up with the rest of society, and seriously late at that.

Of course though it would be churlish to ignore Paisley's recent metanoia, but I think the Alliance Party leader David Ford summed up Paisley's career well when he said today: "History will judge whether Ian Paisley will be remembered for 40 years of saying no or one year of saying probably. Many will say his road to Damascus conversion came 35 years too late. The achievements of the executive since last May have been modest in the extreme."

If Paisley had departed politics three decades ago, would we in any worse of a state than we are now? I think not.

If the Chuckle Brother routine is indeed genuine, isn't it a damn pity that Paisley wasn't so magnanimous in the past when others attempted to build powersharing? How many innocent people have died thanks to decades of hate-filled words spurring idiots on to engage in terrorism, be they loyalist or republican?

Some ordinary folk may be shedding a tear tonight- not for the bilious oaf who did everything in his power to prevent powersharing for decades, but for the people who died in the needlessly prolonged conflict here.

The end of Paisley's political career is near. I don't do whitewashing or rewriting of history, and as such I can firmly say that for me it isn't a minute too soon.

Adios.