SDLP and DUP clash over Paisley's legacy
The SDLP and DUP have clashed over the legacy and role of Ian Paisley, less than sixty hours before they meet across the chamber in the recalled Stormont assembly.
The DUP say Ian Paisley's policies are working and turning the North back onto the path of democracy, but the SDLP say the DUP leader has done more to sabotage reconciliation than anyone else.
The DUP's MP for East Antrim, Sammy Wilson, said this afternoon that Mr Paisley's approach was forcing the IRA towards peace.
Democracy, he said, must be defended from the corruption caused of terrorists and criminals in government.
The Northern Secretary, Peter Hain, also had kind words for Mr Paisley today, calling him courageous.
But Sean Farren, the SDLP assembly member for North Antrim said he could not spot a single courageous act that Ian Paisley had done in half a century of public life.
For 40 years, he said, he had set out to sabotage political progress while his name was a byword for hard-line intransigence.
