Paisley Could Have Been Arrested

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Paisley Could Have Been Arrested

January 3, 2008

By Barry McCaffrey

SENIOR British government ministers discussed arresting Ian Paisley because of his alleged links with Loyalist paramilitaries more than 30 years ago, official government papers have revealed.

The discussions over the potential arrest of Northern Ireland’s leading politician were revealed in government papers, which have just been released this week after being classified as top-secret for the last 30 years.

The internal British government memos relate to Paisley’s leadership of a Loyalist strike in May 1977, which had demanded that the British government took draconian measures against the IRA.

The Loyalist strike, which was supported by the Ulster Defense Asso-ciation (UDA), brought North-ern Ire-land to a standstill, with masked men blocking roads and forcing shops and businesses to close indefinitely.

Paisley had claimed he would quit politics if the strike ended in failure. The protest was eventually broken when police and soldiers broke up the illegal loyalist roadblocks.

However, the classified papers have revealed that senior government officials actively discussed Paisley’s possible arrest because of his alleged close connections with Loyalist paramilitaries.

Minutes from the meetings, involving senior Northern Ireland Office civil servants at Stormont, warned that the government had lessons to learn despite succeeding in breaking the strike.

Identifying Pais-ley’s key involvement in organizing the protests, the papers reveal, “It was pointed out, however, that the person responsible (Paisley) was associated with and had the support of the Protestant paramilitaries and it was queried whether he ought not to be held for conspiracy.”

Senior civil servants further voiced concerns that despite the successful break-up of the protests, there should be no concessions “to allow Mr. Paisley off the hook.”

The senior civil servants warned that Paisley would continue to retain strong support within the Protestant community, even if he was politically damaged by the failure of the strike.

Thirty years later Paisley now finds himself being accused of betrayal by hard-line Loyalists after he chose to become Northern Ireland’s first minister in a power-sharing government with his one-time enemies in Sinn Fein.

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