How politicians are reacting to the news

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

By Matthew McCreary

This included the DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson, who said that he believed his party colleague had taken "the right decision for the right reason".

"In drawing this particular chapter to a close I think it is important to record that in the last 10 months Ian Paisley Junior has made a significant contribution to both the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister and to the work of the wider Executive in often difficult personal circumstances," he said.

Ulster Unionist Deputy Leader Danny Kennedy said: "Allegations surrounding Junior Minister Paisley have sapped public trust and confidence.

"It is now imperative that... the Assembly act quickly to rebuild public trust and create a framework that provides transparency and accountability with regards to the activities of government and individual MLAs."

Mr Paisley Jnr's fellow North Antrim MLA Daithi McKay of Sinn Fein, said: " This is certainly not the end of it for Ian Paisley Jnr. There are still a number of questions that he needs to answer in relation to the Giant's Causeway and other developments."

Alliance Party leader David Ford said: "Ian Paisley Jnr's behaviour has severely damaged the credibility of the Executive. However the questions being asked relate to his behaviour as an MLA.

"This would suggest he must resign as a MLA too."

SDLP Assembly member Declan O'Loan said the junior minister's resignation was inevitable.

But he also insisted it did not mean the focus would shift from the DUP's links with Mr Sweeney.

"The spotlight now switches on to Ian Paisley Senior. I think the public will be saying one Paisley has gone, when is the other going to go?'" he said.

And SDLP Deputy Leader Dr Alasdair McDonnell asked: "Why was it always left to journalists to dig out the truth under the Freedom of Information Act?"

Traditional Unionist MEP Jim Allister said the DUP's defeat at Dromore had accelerated the resignation.

"The fundamental problem is. . . particularly the policy of having IRA/Sinn Fein at the heart of government. It is that policy which needs to be abandoned," he said.

"Thus even when Ian Paisley Senior follows Junior in exiting the scene, unless the policy is reversed, the DUP's decline will continue."

The Northern Ireland Green Party's south Belfast representative Dr Peter Doran said: "(The junior minister) was clearly out of his depth and should never have been appointed in the first place.

"Some people bring joy wherever they go. Some people bring joy when they go."

There was also reaction from Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward, who said: "On the public front it is obviously a matter for the DUP and obviously a matter for the Executive and Assembly," he said.

"But on a private front I think one also has to acknowledge that, for the Paisley family, it is a very difficult time."

Headline after headline led to departure

David Gordon traces the controversy which led to the downfall of Ian Paisley Jnr

September 2007: Environment Minister Arlene Foster announces that she is "of a mind" to grant Seymour Sweeney approval for a Giant's Causeway visitor centre development. Ian Paisley Jnr goes on BBC radio and says "I know of him, yes" when asked if he supports Mr Sweeney.

It emerges that Sweeney is a DUP member who enjoyed sustained lobbying support from the MLA. He confirms that he sold a Bushmills property to Mr Paisley Jnr at full market value.

The fact that the house at Ballyallaght remained registered in Mrs Sweeney's name for some three years before the paperwork was completed is explained as an "administrative hiccup".

The Belfast Telegraph reveals that environment experts in Mrs Foster's department recommended a refusal for the Causeway centre scheme.

October 2007: Ian Paisley Snr is embroiled in controversy over a 2003 letter to the Heritage Lottery Fund. It incorrectly claimed that Mr Sweeney secured approval from world heritage body Unesco. The letter is revealed in a freedom of information disclosure to this newspaper, prompting a complaint against Dr Paisley by SDLP MLA John Dallat to the House of Commons Standards Commissioner.

December 2007: It is revealed that Mr Paisley Jnr had been lobbying in favour of the sale of Government owned land at Ballee, Ballymena to former owners, backed by Mr Sweeney and other developers.

His lobbying included protesting to fellow Stormont Minister Margaret Ritchie about the increased price her Department was seeking for the site.

January 2008: DUP colleagues are annoyed when MEP Jim Allister exposes lobbying by Mr Paisley Jnr at the 2006 St Andrews talks. It transpires that the MLA's six-point shopping list had been taken to Prime Minister Tony Blair by the NIO. Two of them involved Mr Sweeney - the Causeway and the Ballee land deal.

He maintains that he raised the issues "on the margins of the talks" .

The Environment Minister announces that she is refusing permission to the developer's Causeway centre application. She informs the Assembly, flanked by Mr Paisley Jnr.

February 2008: The MLA and his party refuse to disclose the pay he receives from his father's Commons staffing allowance on top of his MLA and Stormont junior Minister jobs.

February 18, 2008: Amid fresh controversy about his constituency allowances, Mr Paisley Jnr resigns his junior Minister job - while continuing to firmly deny any wrongdoing.