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NORTHERN IRELAND’S former First Minister, Ian Paisley, remains in intensive care this morning after being rushed to hospital at the weekend.
The 85-year-old member of the House of Lords was admitted to the Ulster Hospital on Sunday afternoon suffering from what has been described as a ‘serious heart condition’.
His wife Eileen has asked for the family’s privacy to be respected “at this difficult time”.
Paisley had a pacemaker fitted a year ago after falling ill while attending a House of Lords meeting. In 2004, during a series of tense political negotiations, he had become seriously ill and later said he had “walked in death’s shadow”.
Paisley, who served as First Minister in the Stormont executive from 2005 to 2008, founded the Democratic Unionist Party in 1971 and held that role until stepping down from the party leadership in 2008.
He was given the title of Baron Bannside of North Anthem in 2010 after giving up his seat in the House of Commons, ending a 40-year tenure, and sits in the House of Lords alongside his wife, Baroness Paisley of St George’s, who has given her peerage in 2006.
Paisley also served as an MEP from 1979 to 2004.
The former moderator of Northern Ireland’s Free Presbyterian Church had preached his final sermon only nine days before his admission to hospital. He had stepped down from his church roles in 2008.
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The Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz had a similar problem. He hadn’t one either.
I wish him well
I don’t .. :)
Regardless of this mans opinions (I disagree totally with every word he has ever uttered) he had the courage and passion to fight for them all his life. Pity the same can not be said for the Irish populace. If Irish people had even a fraction of this mans pride and dignity they would stand up for themselves, their children, their country. I wish you well sir, your heart is weary but it has lived strong.
worse things often happened to better men
He may have mellowed in later life but he must take a fair share of the blame for actually being the cause of a lot of the bloodshed on the streets of the north. Not directly but indirectly because if his rally rousing and over the top defiant speeches…
Maybe , but remember that his partner in the assembly is someone who ordered that bloodshed ,
an old man who did some good late in life
The minuscule good he did at the end of his life was probably just some degree of insurance in his own mind to get his ticket to hell scraped for a ticket to limbo instead. The tiny bit of good he may or may not have done is irrelevant compared to the monumental damage he caused over the course of several decades preaching hate, bigotry and ignorance. Just because he is old is no reason to pity him, wasn`t the devils greatest trick fooling man into thinking he didn`t exist.
All he did towards the end was accept that people who were Catholics or Irish were not the “spawn of Satan”, a phrase he oft used, and was stock preaching in his churches.
A view that made him the most popular Unionist politician in 50 years.
What a shame
Interesting fact about ian paisley , They wont bury him in a Protestant graveyard
Jus curious, but why not?
Well seeing as he is a Presbyterian I would imagine that he would be buried in a Presbyterian graveyard.
Has his illness anything to do with the shock he got on hearing that Stephen Ireland is looking for a call up to the Euros?
Fingers crossed…
that he lives or dies… just out of interest like!
interesting to see all the IRA / SF fan club who are always telling us to forgive wishing an old man to die. Hypocritical scumbags.
actually as a sinn fein member i wish him well.
politically i hate the man – but he is a father and husband and grandfather so i say get well soon on that basis alone.
also i think you’ll find that nearly all mla’s in stormont from the sinn fein parliamentay team offered their own get well soon messages last week…. to that end get your facts straight before you spew anymore crap!
have your say