Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
'Dr No' is dead
DUP cleric Ian Paisley tried and failed to destroy peace – eventually befriending his Sinn Fein rival

ONE of the most divisive figures in Northern Ireland politics, Ian Paisley, has died following a long illness, it was confirmed yesterday.

The former leader and founder of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Mr Paisley was reviled by nationalists and republicans as a sectarian bigot whose incendiary rhetoric deliberately exacerbated tensions.

His establishment of an armed paramilitary organisation, the Third Force, as well as his frequent and vitriolic attacks on the Catholic Church and his infamous “Save Ulster from Sodomy” campaign did little to change that opinion.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
FINDING COMMON CAUSE: Supporters of the Irish rap group Kneecap outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London with London Irish Brigade solidarity placards for Mo Chara
Ireland / 9 March 2026
9 March 2026

AARON SMITH discusses why the Protestant diaspora are still part of Yeats’s ‘Indomitable Irishry’, and an integral part of any future united Ireland.

ALL IN A GOOD CAUSE: The statue of James Connolly in Dublin, designed by the sculptor Eamonn O'Doherty unveiled in 1996 was commissioned by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) / Pic: William Murphy/CC
Features / 30 October 2025
30 October 2025

A new group within the NEU is preparing the labour movement for a conversation on Irish unity by arguing that true liberation must be rooted in working-class solidarity and anti-sectarianism, writes ROBERT POOLE