Ian Paisley stands over Catholic IRA remarks Ian Paisley stood over his remarks about the Catholic IRA 29 January, 2021 01:00
Eamon Phoenix said it was incorrect to directly link Catholicism and violent republicanism. Picture by Press Eye/Darren Kidd
IAN Paisley was last night unrepentant about his Catholic IRA remarks, insisting the claim was an uncomfortable truth that his critics failed to recognise.
But the DUP MP said he made no association of the RC [Roman Catholic] Church with the IRA and that Alliance s Stephen Farry wanted to take offence when none was given .
Historian Eamon Phoenix said it was incorrect to directly link Catholicism and violent republicanism, and that the Church had been a consistent critic of the IRA and its forerunners.
Former DUP leader Peter Robinson. Picture by Niall Carson, Press Association 16 January, 2021 01:00
President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State W.T Cosgrave, British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald and Prime Minister of Northern Ireland Sir James Craig at Chequers in 1924. Picture from Press Association
Former first minister Peter Robinson has said that Northern Ireland was not initially intended to be a permanent state.
The former DUP leader, widely regarded as one of unionism s most strategic thinkers, suggested that initial structures set up in the early 1920s showed partition was meant to be short-term .
Writing ahead of planned commemorations to mark the establishment of Northern Ireland later this year, he said: It is clear from the structures that were fashioned at the birth of Northern Ireland that our forefathers did not envisage creating a permanent state.