Paisley Is the Focus of N. Irish Eyes

Divisive Protestant Leader Is Key Voice on Restarting Assembly

BALLYMENA, Northern Ireland -- David Graham, 31, a sharply dressed sales representative, wasn't born when the Rev. Ian Paisley won his first election in Northern Ireland in 1970, yet he strongly backs the 80-year-old Protestant preacher because "he upholds our side of things."

That simple sentiment is why for 40 years Paisley's thundering voice has dominated the political scene in this polarized British province. From the pulpit of his Presbyterian church and here on the tidy streets of his home town, Paisley has breathed fiery outrage into speeches that often seemed to consist of two words: "no" and "never."

Now, all eyes are on Paisley as Northern Ireland -- urged on by the British and Irish governments -- tries to reestablish an elected local assembly in which Catholics and Protestants would sit in the same blue-carpeted chamber and share decision-making power over issues from schools to potholes. Restarting the assembly, known as Stormont, is critical to cementing an end to the sectarian violence that has cost 3,500 lives in the past 36 years.

Paisley, who once called Pope John Paul II the "anti-Christ," has vowed to "never, never, never" sit down with Roman Catholic political leaders, whom he considers "terrorists." So the question now, from Catholics as well as his Protestant supporters, is: Can Ian Paisley say yes?

"He's got to agree because there's no other way forward," said Bill Balmer, 62, a management consultant in Ballymena, an overwhelmingly Protestant town of 30,000 people about 25 miles northwest of Belfast. Like Graham and many other Paisley supporters here, Balmer said it was time for self-rule.

In an interview in London in the halls of Westminster, where he represents North Antrim in the House of Commons, Paisley said his comments in the past should not be construed to mean he could never participate in the legislature with Sinn Fein, the political affiliate of the Irish Republican Army, the outlawed Catholic militia.

"It's a conditional 'never,' " he said, laughing when asked about his reputation for stubbornness and his nickname, "Dr. No."

"I am not saying I will never sit in Stormont with the IRA," he said. "I am saying I will not sit in Stormont until the IRA gives up its weapons. It's a conditional 'no,' not a 'No, I'll never do it.' "

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his counterpart in the Republic of Ireland, Bertie Ahern, have expressed optimism over the IRA's historic announcement last July that it had given up its guns, and the leaders have called for the Stormont assembly to reconvene on May 15. The assembly is a cornerstone of the 1998 Good Friday agreement, which mapped out a route to peace in the province of 1.7 million people. But it has been suspended since 2002, when trust between Protestants and Catholics broke down completely after an IRA spy ring was uncovered in the assembly.

Since then, the British government has paid more than $160 million to maintain the moth-balled legislature, including salaries for the 108 members. That funding is to end Nov. 24 if this last-ditch effort to get the two sides governing together fails.

As leader of the largest party, Paisley is slated to be elected as the head of the assembly, with Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein leader whom Paisley has often called a "terrorist," likely to be elected to the No. 2 post. Adams has said he is ready to share power and is waiting to see if Paisley is "prepared to join the rest of us."

"I hope that he will ultimately agree to work out a way to participate in government," former senator George J. Mitchell (D-Maine) said of Paisley. Mitchell mediated the negotiations that led to the Good Friday agreement. "If you don't go back to power-sharing, it increases the chance of going back to the way it was 20 years ago," he said.