Ian Paisley and other relics of the past

A recent article in the Guardian acknowledged the tributes to Ian Paisley after his death as being privy to the theory of 'live long enough and all is forgiven'. The media coverage surrounding his death focused on Paisley as a peacemaker, with David Cameron saying he would be remembered as the ''big man' of Northern Ireland politics' and would be 'greatly missed'. This is a far cry from the images of Paisley as a flat track bully, whose violent rhetoric inspired a far right stance amongst unionism throughout the early peace process. Further to this, the Reverend for a long time backed loyalist paramilitarism in its defence of a mid 20th century political system which even the staunchest supporter of the union would now admit was unjust and unethical. His passing is the passing of a relic which the political mindset of the North must move on from, but many others remain.

The death of Paisley and the obituaries which followed in the mainstream media, have highlighted many important ideas for those who hope the North can progress from its current malaise. His deposition by those who now run the DUP was well covered by the media earlier this year and shows the deep underlying issues which exist within the NI Assembly. As was heartily discussed at the time, Paisley had overstayed his usefulness to the DUP, faced with the rise of TUV they removed him so as to retain their position as the hardiest defenders of the union.

Success in the following election then allowed them to maintain a power base from which they instituted the Red Sky scandal, giving public finances to DUP donors whilst they destroyed housing executive property. Nelson McCausland (DSD minister at the time) further proved his superior usefulness in social housing trade offs with Sinn Féin, perpetuating the electoral majority of key party members, some of whom had led the deposition of the party founder.

This failure to progress to a consensus based system where parties set a joint agenda for the good of the people - as opposed to the current bilateral strategies based on maintaining the electoral relevance of green and blue parties is a deep wound in the system which sees no signs of healing under the leadership of the current incumbents of the OFMDFM.

Paisley's disposal at the hands of those who now lead the DUP has not however succeeded to maintain their unchallenged position as dictators of the agenda which the loyalist vote follows. Failures of the party to manage PR and promote new changes such as the removal of flags and symbols; growing multiculturalism in the North with the influx of new ethnocultural groups; and the secularisation of public policy with movements towards equal marriage based on sexual orientation has led to the growth of a new far right element in Loyalism. The growth of the 'Protestant Coalition' outlook from Loyalism is undoubtedly a consequence of disastrous management by an adversarial party in a political system based on progressive consensus and tolerance. This consensus, due to the leadership of Sinn Féin and the DUP has given way to stand off and trade off.

Peter Robinson was quoted earlier this week as saying the Stormont system was 'no longer fit for purpose' and he would look to the Westminster government to engage in further talks for a solution. This comes less than a year after the huge amount of money spent bringing in US diplomat Richard Haass offered no results in solving issues over flags, parades and dealing with the past. This unveils a basic incompetence in the leadership of the Stormont executive.

DUP failure to properly lead in the progressive changes to policy on flags and symbols which must take place to become a less confrontational society, failure to govern in a responsible way which benefits the people, and failure to come up with any solutions to the problems they are paid to solve leads to a simple conclusion. Paisley is a relic which the North are better moving on from, but he is not the only one, until the relics still sitting in the executive office on the hill are also disposed of, progress cannot be made. We can't however wait until they dispose of themselves as they did with the Doc, the people of the North must stand up to the relics in OFMDFM, in Sinn Féin and in the DUP and take a leaf from Reverend. Ulster must say no to the powers that be or we will 'never, never' move on and become the fantastic multicultural, tolerant society we believe we can be.