The Reverend and Right Honourable The Lord Bannside PC
First Minister of Northern Ireland
In office 8 May 2007 – 5 June 2008
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Deputy	Martin McGuinness
Preceded by	David Trimble
Succeeded by	Peter Robinson
Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party
In office 30 September 1971 – 31 May 2008
Preceded by	Office Created
Succeeded by	Peter Robinson
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for North Antrim
In office 25 June 1998 – 25 March 2011
Preceded by	Office Created
Succeeded by	Paul Frew
Member of the European Parliament for Northern Ireland
In office 7 June 1979 – 10 June 2004
Preceded by	Office Created
Succeeded by	Jim Allister
Member of Parliament for North Antrim
In office 18 June 1970 – 6 May 2010
Preceded by	Henry Maitland Clark
Succeeded by	Ian Paisley, Jr.
Personal details
Born	(1926-04-06) 6 April 1926 (age 86) Armagh, Northern Ireland
Nationality	British
Political party	Democratic Unionist Party
Spouse(s)	Eileen Cassells
Children	Rhonda Sharon Cherith Kyle Ian
Residence	Belfast, Northern Ireland
Occupation	Minister Evangelist Politician Political activist
Religion	Free Presbyterian
Website	Official website

Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, PC (born 6 April 1926) is a politician and former church minister from Northern Ireland. As the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), he and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness were elected First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively on 8 May 2007. Paisley retired from religious ministry on 27 January 2012.

In addition to co-founding the DUP and leading it from 1971 to 2008, he is a founding member and was Moderator for 57 years of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster. In 2005, Paisley's political party became the largest unionist party in Northern Ireland, displacing his long-term rivals, the Ulster Unionists (UUP), who had dominated unionist politics in Northern Ireland since before the partition of Ireland.

On 4 March 2008 Paisley announced that he would step down as First Minister and leader of the DUP after the US-Northern Ireland Investment Conference in May 2008.^[1] Peter Robinson took over as DUP leader on 31 May 2008, and replaced Paisley as First Minister on 5 June 2008.^[2] Paisley was made a life peer in the Dissolution Honours List of Prime Minister Gordon Brown,^[3] ennobled on 18 June 2010 as Baron Bannside, of North Antrim in the County of Antrim.^[4]

Personal life[link]

Ian Richard Kyle Paisley was born in Armagh, County Armagh and brought up in the town of Ballymena, County Antrim, where his father James Kyle Paisley was an Independent Baptist pastor. The senior Paisley had served in the Ulster Volunteers under Edward Carson.^[5]

He married Eileen Cassells on 13 October 1956.^[6] They have five children, three daughters Sharon, Rhonda and Cherith and twin sons, Kyle and Ian. Three of their children have followed their father into politics or religion: Kyle is a Free Presbyterian minister; Ian is a DUP MP; and Rhonda, a retired DUP councillor.^[7] He has a brother, Harold, who is also an evangelical fundamentalist.^[8]

Following rumours and a marked change in his appearance, it was confirmed in July 2004 that Paisley had been undergoing tests for an undisclosed illness and in 2005 Ian Paisley, Jr. confirmed that his father had been gravely ill. Paisley himself later admitted that he had "walked in death's shadow."^[9]

Religious career[link]

During his time working on the farm, the young Paisley felt that he received a vocation to enter the Christian ministry.^{[citation needed]} He undertook theological training at the Barry School of Evangelism (now called the Evangelical Theological College of Wales), and later, for a year, at the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Hall in Belfast.^{[citation needed]}

Free Presbyterian Church[link]

In 1951, a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland was forbidden by denominational authorities to hold a meeting in their own church hall at which Paisley was to be the speaker. In response, the leaders of that congregation left the PCI and began a new denomination, the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster.^[10] Paisley soon became the moderator of this denomination^[11] and was re-elected every year, except one, for 57 years.^[12]

The Free Presbyterian Church has a fundamentalist orientation, requiring strict separation from "any church which has departed from the fundamental doctrines of the Word of God."^[10] As of the 1991 census, the denomination included about 12,000 people, less than 1% of the Northern Ireland population.

Writings[link]

Paisley set up his own newspaper in February 1966, the Protestant Telegraph, as a mechanism for further spreading his message.^[13] He has authored numerous books and pamphlets on religious and political subjects including a commentary on the Epistle to the Romans.^[14]

Campaign against homosexuality[link]

He has preached against homosexuality^[15] and supports laws criminalising its practice. Intertwining his religious and political views, "Save Ulster from Sodomy" was a campaign launched by Paisley in 1977, in opposition to the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform (Northern Ireland), established in 1974.^[16] Paisley's campaign sought to prevent the extension to Northern Ireland of the Sexual Offences Act 1967, which had decriminalised homosexual acts between males over 21 years of age in England and Wales. The campaign failed when legislation was passed in 1982 as a result of the previous year's ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Dudgeon v United Kingdom.^[17]

Religious views[link]

Paisley promotes a form of Biblical literalism and Anti-Catholicism, which he describes as "Bible Protestantism". The website of Paisley's public relations arm, the European Institute of Protestant Studies, describes the institute's purpose as to "expound the Bible, expose the Papacy, and to promote, defend and maintain Bible Protestantism in Europe and further afield."^[18] Paisley's website describes a number of doctrinal areas in which he believes that the "Roman church" (which he termed Popery) has deviated from the Bible and thus from true Christianity.

In 1988, when Pope John Paul II delivered a speech to the European Parliament, Paisley shouted "I denounce you as the Antichrist!" and held up a red poster reading "Pope John Paul II ANTICHRIST" in black letters. John Paul continued with his address after Paisley was ejected from the hemicycle by fellow MEPs.^{[19][20][21][22]} Some reports claimed that other MEPs, including Otto von Habsburg, assisted in expelling him from the chamber,^[23] and that Paisley was booed and struck by other MEPs, who also hurled objects at him, leading to his hospitalisation.^[24][25]

Paisley continued to denounce the Catholic Church and the Pope after the incident. In a television interview for The Unquiet Man, a 2001 documentary on Paisley's life, he expressed his pride at being "the only person to have the courage to denounce the Pope".^{[citation needed]} After the death of Pope John Paul II in 2005, Paisley expressed sympathy for Catholics stating "We can understand how Roman Catholics feel at the death of the Pope and we would want in no way to interfere with their expression of sorrow and grief at this time."^[26] This was in contrast to Paisley's reaction to the death of Pope John XXIII in June 1963, when Paisley organised protests against the lowering of flags in public buildings after the death of the Pope.^[27]

He has claimed in an article that the seat no. 666 in the European Parliament is reserved for the Antichrist.^[28]

He and his organisation have publicly spoken out against what he views to be blasphemy in popular culture, including criticism of the stage productions Jesus Christ Superstar and Jerry Springer: The Opera, as well as being strongly pro-life.^{[citation needed]}

Although at political odds with the Republic of Ireland, he has some religious followers in two counties (County Donegal and County Monaghan).^[29] It was specifically in his religious capacity that he first agreed to meet the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern.^{[citation needed]} Paisley revised this stance in September 2004, when he agreed to meet Ahern in his political capacity as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party.^{[citation needed]} Known for a sense of humour, at an early meeting with Ahern at the Irish embassy in London, Paisley requested breakfast and asked for boiled eggs; when Ahern asked him why he had wanted boiled eggs, Paisley quipped "it would be hard for you to poison them".^[30]

Political career[link]

Early activism and paramilitary involvement[link]

Paisley's first political involvement came at the 1950 UK general election, when he campaigned on behalf of the successful Ulster Unionist Party candidate in Belfast West, the Church of Ireland minister James Godfrey MacManaway.^[31] Inspired by MacManaway's blend of unionism and Protestantism, Paisley joined independent Unionist MP Norman Porter's National Union of Protestants, but left after Porter refused to join the Free Presbyterians.^[32]

Paisley was among those invited in 1956 to a special meeting at the Ulster Unionist Party's offices in Glengall Street, Belfast.^{[citation needed]} The meeting's declared purpose was to organise the defence of Protestant areas against anticipated Irish Republican Army (IRA) activity, in the manner of the old Ulster Protestant Association after the partition of Ireland in the early 1920s.^{[citation needed][33]} The new body decided to call itself Ulster Protestant Action (UPA), and the first year of its existence was taken up with the discussion of vigilante patrols, street barricades, and drawing up lists of IRA suspects in both Belfast and in rural areas.^[34][35] The UPA was to later become the Protestant Unionist Party in 1966.^[36] Factory and workplace branches were formed under the UPA, including one by Paisley in Belfast's Ravenhill area under his direct control.^{[citation needed]} The concern of the UPA increasingly came to focus on the defence of 'Bible Protestantism' and Protestant interests where jobs and housing were concerned.^{[citation needed]} As Paisley came to dominate Ulster Protestant Action, he received his first convictions for public order offences. In June 1959, a major riot occurred on the Shankill Road in Belfast following a rally at which he had spoken.^[37]

Paisley, along with Noel Docherty established the Ulster Constitution Defence Committee, which in turn established the paramilitary organisation Ulster Protestant Volunteers on 17 April 1966 at a parade in the Shankill area of Belfast^[38] Paisley went on to establish another paramilitary group, Third Force, on 1 April 1981.^[39][40][41] Another paramilitary group, Ulster Resistance, was established by Paisley in 1986.^[42][43]

In 1964, his demand that the Royal Ulster Constabulary remove an Irish tricolour from Sinn Féin's Belfast offices led to two days of rioting, after this was followed through (see Flags and Emblems Act – the public display of any symbol, with the exception of the Union flag, that could cause a breach of the peace was illegal until Westminster repealed the Act in 1987).^[44] Paisley's approach led him in turn to oppose O'Neill's successors as Prime Minister, Major James Chichester-Clark (later Lord Moyola) and Brian Faulkner.^[45]

In 1969, he was jailed along with Ronald Bunting for organising an illegal counter-demonstration against a Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march in Armagh. He was released during a general amnesty for people convicted of political offences.^[46]

Electoral success and the DUP foundation[link]

Paisley easily retained his seat in every European election until he stood down in 2004, receiving the highest popular vote of any British MEP (although as Northern Ireland uses a different electoral system to Great Britain for European elections, the figures are not strictly comparable).^[47]

1973 Sunningdale agreement: opposed[link]

In April 1977, Paisley declared he would retire from politics if a forthcoming United Unionist Action Council general strike was unsuccessful. The strike was seen as a failure by most political and media commentators, however Paisley declared it to be a success and continued his career.^[48] In December 1981, the United States State Department revoked his visa, at the insistence of Irish American supporters of Sinn Féin, whose members had been excluded due to the party's links to the PIRA, citing his "divisive rhetoric".^[49]

1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement: 'Ulster says no'[link]

A rally of protesters, estimated between 100,000 and 200,000 people, met in front of Belfast City Hall after a campaign dubbed after its slogan "Ulster Says No" to protest the Anglo-Irish Agreement, which gave the Republic of Ireland a consultive role in the affairs of Northern Ireland.^[50] The rally, was addressed by Paisley and then UUP leader James Molyneaux. In his address, Paisley said:

Where do the terrorists operate from? From the Irish Republic! Where do the terrorists return to for sanctuary? To the Irish Republic! And yet Mrs. Thatcher tells us that the Republic must have some say in our Province. We say never, never, never, never!

The demonstration passed off peacefully. On 9 December 1986, Paisley was once again ejected from the European Parliament for continually interrupting a speech by Thatcher.^[51]

1995: Drumcree standoff[link]

Paisley is a former member of the Orange Institution.^[52] He addresses the annual gathering of the Independent Orange Order every Twelfth of July.^{[citation needed]}

In 1995, he played a part in the Drumcree conflict over marching in Portadown, County Armagh between the Orange Order and local residents of the Garvaghy Road. The march passed off after the decision was made by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) to allow it and Paisley ended the march hand in hand with David Trimble who appeared to perform a "Victory Jig". This "Victory Jig" was seen by some as an act of triumphalism.^[53]

Opposition to the 1998 Belfast Agreement[link]

Paisley's DUP was initially involved in the negotiations under former United States Senator George J. Mitchell that led to the Belfast Agreement of 1998. The party withdrew in protest when Sinn Féin was allowed to participate after its ceasefire.^[54] Paisley and his party opposed the Agreement in the referendum that followed its signing, which saw it approved by over 70% of the voters in Northern Ireland and by over 90% of voters in the Republic of Ireland.^[55]

Although Paisley often stresses his loyalty to the Crown, he accused Queen Elizabeth of being Tony Blair's "parrot" when she voiced approval of the Agreement.^[56]

As part of the deal, the Republic amended, but did not eliminate, the controversial Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution of Ireland, which had originally claimed its government's de jure right to govern the whole island of Ireland, including Northern Ireland.^{[citation needed]}

The DUP fought the resulting election to the Northern Ireland Assembly, to which Paisley was elected, while keeping his seats in the Westminster and European parliaments. The DUP took two seats in the multi-party power-sharing executive (Paisley, like the leaders of the Social Democratic and Labour Party and Sinn Féin chose not to become a minister) but those DUP members serving as ministers (Peter Robinson and Nigel Dodds) refused to attend meetings of the Executive Committee (cabinet) in protest at Sinn Féin's participation.^[57]

Having spent most of his career, as he himself jokingly admitted once, saying 'No', Paisley assumed the chairmanship of the Agriculture committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly created by the Belfast Agreement, where he was praised as an effective, coordinating chairman.^{[citation needed]} The Minister for Agriculture, Nationalist SDLP's Bríd Rodgers, remarked that she and Paisley had a "workmanlike" relationship.^[58]

2000s: compromise and power[link]

Ian Paisley, George W. Bush and Martin McGuinness in December 2007.

In the October 2006 St Andrews Agreement, Paisley and the DUP agreed to new elections, and support for a new executive including Sinn Féin subject to Sinn Féin acceptance of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.^[59] This reversed decades of Paisley opposition to Sinn Féin such as his comments on 12 July 2006 in Portrush, following Orange Order parades when he said, "[Sinn Fein] are not fit to be in partnership with decent people. They are not fit to be in the government of Northern Ireland and it will be over our dead bodies if they ever get there."^[60]

Sinn Féin did endorse the PSNI, and in the subsequent election Paisley and the DUP received an increased share of the vote and increased their assembly seats from 30 to 36.^[61] On Monday 26 March 2007, the date of the British Government deadline for devolution or dissolution, Paisley led a DUP delegation to a meeting with a Sinn Féin delegation led by Gerry Adams, which agreed on a DUP proposal that the executive would be established on 8 May.^[62]

On 8 May 2007 power was devolved, the Assembly met, and Paisley was elected as First Minister of Northern Ireland with Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness as the deputy First Minister. Speaking at Stormont to an invited international audience he said, "Today at long last we are starting upon the road — I emphasise starting — which I believe will take us to lasting peace in our province."^[63] Paisley and McGuinness subsequently established a good working relationship and were dubbed by the Northern Irish media as the "Chuckle Brothers".^[64]

Wikinews has related news: Northern Ireland's Ian Paisley to resign and retire

At the age of 78, he retired from his European Parliament seat at the 2004 elections and was succeeded by Jim Allister.^[65]

He again retained his North Antrim seat in the 2005 UK general election. In 2005, Paisley was made a Privy Counsellor, an appointment traditionally bestowed upon leaders of political parties in the British Parliament.^[66] In 2007, aged 81, he became First Minister of Northern Ireland."^[63]

Upon the death of Piara Khabra in June 2007, Paisley became the oldest sitting British MP.^{[citation needed]} In September 2007, he confirmed that he would contest North Antrim at the 2010 general election as well as serving the full four years as first minister stating "I might as well make hay while the sun shines."^[67]

Following his January 2008 retirement as a religious leader and pressure from party insiders, on 4 March 2008, Paisley announced that he would stand down as DUP leader and First Minister of Northern Ireland in May 2008.^[1] On 17 April, Peter Robinson was elected unopposed as leader of the DUP^[68] and succeeded Paisley as First Minister at a special sitting of the assembly on 5 June 2008.^[69]

In 2007, Paisley was named as "Opposition Parliamentarian of the Year" in the House Magazine Parliamentary Awards^[70] and by the Spectator Magazine as "Marathon Man of the Year."^[71]

On 2 March 2010, it was announced that Ian Paisley would step down as a Member of Parliament in the next general election; held on 6 May.^[72] His son Ian Paisley, Jr. was elected to succeed him in the seat at the general election on 6 May 2010.^[73]

In November 2011, Ian Paisley announced his retirement from the pastorate at his congregation, which he had led for over 60 years.^[74] He delivered his final sermon to a packed attendance at the Martyrs' Memorial Hall on 18 December 2011.^[75]

Paisley retired from his religious ministry at the age of 85, on 27 January 2012.^[76][77]

On 6 February 2012, Reverend Paisley was admitted to Ulster Hospital in Dundonald. According to the BBC, this may be attributable to cardiovascular problems. In February 2011, he had a pacemaker fitted due to cardiac arrhythmia, during his time in the House of Lords.^[78]

Peerage[link]

On 18 June 2010, Paisley was created a life peer as Baron Bannside, of North Antrim in the County of Antrim, and he was introduced in the House of Lords on 5 July 2010.^[79]

Relationship with the nationalist SDLP[link]

From the 1960s, one of his main rivals was civil rights leader and co-founder of the nationalist SDLP, John Hume.^{[citation needed]} British Government papers released in 2002, show that in 1971 Paisley attempted to reach a compromise with the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).^[80] The attempt was made via then British Cabinet Secretary, Sir Burke Trend. The papers show that Paisley had indicated he could "reach an accommodation with leaders of the Catholic minority, which would provide the basis of a new government in Stormont." It appears that the move was rejected once it became clear to the SDLP that the deal would favour the unionist majority. Speaking about the deal in 2002 Paisley said:

Though their parties are often at loggerheads, Hume and Paisley worked jointly on behalf of Northern Ireland in the European Parliament and on occasion worked jointly in the British House of Commons.^{[citation needed]} Hume tells the story of the occasion when he said to Ian Paisley, "Ian, if the word 'no' were to be removed from the English language, you'd be speechless, wouldn't you!" Paisley replied, "No, I wouldn't!"^[81]

See also[link]

• List of Northern Ireland members of the Privy Council

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• The Protestant Reformation: The Preaching of Ian R. K. Paisley : Four Biographical Sermons : Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, William Tyndale (Audio CD)
• The Soul of the Question and the Question of the Soul
• Christian Foundations
• Protestants Remember!
• Union with Rome: The Courtship and Proposed Marriage of Protestantism by Romanism and the Objections Thereto (Ravenhill pulpit) (Ravenhill pulpit)
• Ravenhill Pulpit: The Preaching of Ian R.K. Paisley
• Souvenir booklet: The 50th Anniversary of the Larne Gun-Running (Ravenhill pulpit) (Ravenhill pulpit)
• The Five Protestant Bishops whom Rome Burned: John Hooper, Robert Ferrar, Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, Thomas Cranmer
• Jesus Christ: Not Able to Sin
• No Pope Here
• God's Ultimatum to the Nation
• Getting Your Priorities Right (Martyr's memorial pulpit) (Martyr's memorial pulpit)
• The Authority of the Scriptures vs. the Confusion of Translations: Dr. Ian Paisley Thunders Out For the King James Version and its texts! (B.F.T)
• Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans (Ian R.K.Paisley Library)
• Classic Sermons
• George Whitefield
• Messages from the Prison Cell
• Sermons With Startling Titles
• Betrayal of our National Heritage
• U.D.I.
• The Unaged Birth and the Unembellished Gospel
• Some Kidd But Definitely No Goat!: The Story of the Witty, the Learned, the Eccentric and the Controversial Dr. Kidd of Aberdeen
• For Such a Time as This
• The Ulster Problem, Spring 1972: A Discussion of the True Situation in Northern Ireland
• The Living Bible: The Livid Libel of the Scriptures of Truth: an Exposure of the So-called Bible for Everyone
• The Jesuits: Their Start, Sign, System, Secrecy, Strategy
• The Archbishop in the Arms of the Pope of Rome!: Protestant Ministers in the Hands of the Police of Rome!
• Three great reformers
• The Massacre of St. Bartholomew: A Record of Papal Terror and Protestant Triumph in France in the Sixteenth Century
• Billy Graham and the Church of Rome
• False Views by Modern Man: An Exposure of "Good News for Modern Man — The New Testament — Today's English Version"
• Grow Old Along With Me
• Paisley: The Man and his Message
• The Ecumenical Nightmare: Church Unity in 1980!
• Text a Day Keeps the Evil Away
• Into the Millennium : 20th century Messages for 21st century Living
• The Rent Veils at Calvary
• The Fundamentalist and his State: Address delivered on 15 June 1976 to the World Congress of Fundamentalists meeting at Usher Hall, Edinburgh
• America's Debt to Ulster
• The Crown of Thorns
• An Enemy has Done This: Terror and Treachery in Northern Ireland
• Expository Sermons
• The Garments of Christ
• My Plea for the Old Sword
• Christian Foundations
• Sermons for Special Occasions
• Paisley's Pocket Preacher: Thumbnail gospel sermons
• The Livid Libel of the Scriptures of Truth: An Exposure of the So-called Bible in Everyday Language for Everyone (B.F.T)
• The Revised English Bible; The Antichrist Bible (an exposure)
• Be Sure
• Ulster: The Facts
• The Crown Rights of Jesus Christ: An address delivered by request before the General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church of America
• An Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans,: Prepared in the Prison Cell
• The Common Bible (Revised Standard Version): The Bible of the Antichrist
• Benjamin Wills Newton Maligned But Magnificent: A Centenary Tribute, 1999
• 'The 59 Revival: An Authentic History of the Great Ulster Awakening of 1859

Sources and further information[link]

• Steve Bruce, God save Ulster! The religion and politics of Paisleyism. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1986.
• S. Bruce, Paisley: Religion and Politics in Northern Ireland Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2007.
• Dennis Cooke, Persecuting Zeal: a portrait of Ian Paisley, Brandon Books, 1996.
• Martin Dillon, God and the Gun, Orion Books, London.
• Martha Abele MacIver, "Ian Paisley and the Reformed Tradition", Political Studies, September 1987.
• Ed Moloney & Andy Pollak, Paisley, Poolbeg Press, 1986.
• Rhonda Paisley, Ian Paisley: My Father, Marshall Pickering, 1988.
• Clifford Smyth, Ian Paisley: Voice of Protestant Ulster. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic, 1987.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ian Paisley

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Ian Paisley

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Ian Paisley

• The American Ireland Fund hosts Paisley and McGuinness at the New York Stock Exchange
• BBC Extended interview with Ian Paisley (April 2006; interviewed by William Crawley)
• DUP – Ian Paisley website
• Ian Paisley's European Institute of Protestant Studies
• Free Presbyterian Church website
• BBC Biography of Ian Paisley
• The Guardian Special Report
• Recordings and Photos of the visit by Ian Paisley to the College Historical Society in October 2007.
• Speeches made by and references to Ian Paisley in the Stormont Parliament, 1970-72

Coordinates: 55°50′48″N 4°25′25″W / 55.846627°N 4.423636°W / 55.846627; -4.423636

Paisley
Scottish Gaelic: Pàislig
Paisley Town Hall
Paisley  Paisley shown within Renfrewshire
Population	74,000
OS grid reference	NS485635
- Edinburgh	49 mi (79 km) E
- London	347 mi (558 km) SSE
Council area	Renfrewshire
Lieutenancy area	Renfrewshire
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	PAISLEY
Postcode district	PA1 – PA3
Dialling code	0141 & 01505
Police	Strathclyde
Fire	Strathclyde
Ambulance	Scottish
EU Parliament	Scotland
UK Parliament	Paisley and Renfrewshire North
	Paisley and Renfrewshire South
Scottish Parliament	Paisley North
	Paisley South
	West of Scotland
List of places: UK • Scotland •

Paisley is the largest town in the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland and serves as the administrative centre for the Renfrewshire council area. The town is situated on the northern edge of the Gleniffer Braes, straddling the banks of the White Cart Water, a tributary of the River Clyde.

The town, a former burgh, forms part of a contiguous urban area with Glasgow, Glasgow City Centre being 6.9 miles (11.1 km) to the east. The town came to prominence with the establishment of Paisley Abbey in the 12th century, an important religious hub in mediaeval Scotland which formerly had control over the other churches in the local area.

By the 19th century, Paisley had established itself as a centre of the weaving industry, giving its name to the Paisley Shawl and the Paisley Pattern. The town's associations with political Radicalism were highlighted by its involvement in the Radical War of 1820, with striking weavers being instrumental in the protests.

History[link]

Map of Paisley in 1923

Formerly and variously known as Paislay,^[1] Passelet, Passeleth, and Passelay^[2] the burgh's name is of uncertain origin; some sources suggest a derivation either from the Brythonic word, pasgill, "pasture", or more likely, passeleg, "basilica", (i.e. major church), itself derived from the Greek βασιλική basilika. However, some Scottish place-name books^[which?] suggest "Pæssa's wood/clearing", from the Old English personal name Pæssa, "clearing", and leāh, "wood". Pasilege (1182) and Paslie (1214) are recorded previous spellings of the name. The Gaelic spelling is Pàislig.

The Anchor Mills (1886) – a remnant of Paisley's Victorian industrial heritage.

Paisley has monastic origins. A chapel is said to have been established by the 6th/7th century Irish monk, Saint Mirin at a site near a waterfall on the White Cart Water known as the Hammils. Though Paisley lacks contemporary documentation it may have been, along with Glasgow and Govan, a major religious centre of the Kingdom of Strathclyde. A priory was established in 1163 from the Cluniac priory at Wenlock in Shropshire, England at the behest of Walter Fitzalan (d. 1177) High Steward of Scotland. In 1245 this was raised to the status of an Abbey. The restored Abbey and adjacent 'Place' (palace), constructed out of part of the medieval claustral buildings, survive as a Church of Scotland parish church. One of Scotland's major religious houses, Paisley Abbey was much favoured by the Bruce and Stewart royal families. It is generally accepted that William Wallace was educated here.^{[citation needed]} King Robert III (1390–1406) was buried in the Abbey. His tomb has not survived, but that of Princess Marjorie Bruce (1296–1316), ancestor of the Stewarts, is one of Scotland's few royal monuments to survive the Reformation.

Paisley coalesced under James II's wish that the lands should become a single regality and, as a result, markets, trading and commerce began to flourish. In 1488 the town's status was raised by James IV to Burgh of barony.

Many trades sprang up and the first school was established in 1577 by the Town Council. By the mid-nineteenth century weaving had become the town's principal industry. The Paisley weaver's most famous product were the shawls, which bore the Paisley Pattern made fashionable after being worn by a young Queen Victoria. Despite being of a Kashmiri design and manufactured in other parts of Europe, the teardrop-like pattern soon became known by Paisley's name across the western world.^[3][4] Although the shawls dropped out of fashion in the 1870s, the Paisley pattern remains an important symbol of the town: the Paisley Museum maintains a significant collection of the original shawls in this design and it has been used, for example, in the modern logo of Renfrewshire Council, the local authority.^[5]

Through its weaving fraternity, Paisley gained note as being a literate and somewhat radical town. By this time there was a real mixture of religious opinions and healthy drink-fuelled debate raged at night amongst the weavers, poets, merchants, masons and others. The poet Robert Tannahill lived in this setting, working as a weaver. The weavers of Paisley were also active in the Radical War of 1820. Paisley's annual Sma' Shot Day celebrations held on the first Saturday of June were initiated in 1856 to commemorate a 19th century dispute between weavers and employers over payment for "sma' shot" – a small cotton thread which, although unseen, was necessary in holding together garments.^[6]

Geography[link]

		Renfrew
	Elderslie		Glasgow
		Paisley    East
		Barrhead

Paisley's skyline and backdrop from Saucel Hill, with Oakshaw in the centre.

Paisley sits primarily on an expanse of low ground around 40 ft above sea level surrounding the White Cart Water, which runs through the town centre. There are a number of elevated hills and ridges which have been absorbed as the town has expanded.^[7] The settlement is historically centred on Oakshaw, an area surrounding a hill to the north of the current High Street. Oakshaw is a conservation area and on the high ground many of Paisley's significant buildings can be found, such as the High Kirk, the Coats Observatory and the former John Neilson Institution, which was once a school and is now converted into residential flats.

Around the centre there are a large number of older residential buildings. The town centre, Williamsburgh and Charleston areas contain many examples of Scottish tenement flats. Three to four stories tall, with shops on the ground floor and constructed of local blond and red sandstone, these tenement flats have been extensively restored and modernised over the last two decades.

Paisley expanded steadily, particularly in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, creating many suburbs around the centre of the town. Castlehead is a wooded conservation area primarily made up of Victorian villas where many of the town's leading industrialists made their homes in the late 19th century. Thornly Park, another conservation area, is located to the south of the town. It contains a variety of architecture ranging from mock Tudor to Art Deco. Many of the houses were designed by W D McLennan, who also designed several local churches such as Saint Matthew's.

Particularly following the Housing Act 1946, modern Paisley grew into the surrounding countryside and several large residential areas were created in the post-war period. These include portions of Glenburn (south), Foxbar (south west), Ferguslie Park (north west), Gallowhill (North East) and Hunterhill (South East). Gockston in the far north of the town has many terraced houses and, after regeneration has many detached and semi-detached houses as well as several blocks of flats. Dykebar, situated to the south east of the centre of the town, is a residential area which is also the site of a secure psychiatric hospital.

On the outskirts of the town are a number of settlements such as Ralston, a residential area in the far east bordering the city of Glasgow. Ralston was outside the Paisley burgh boundary when constructed in the 1930s but, as a result of local authority re-organisation in the 1990s, it is now generally regarded as a suburb of Paisley.

Economy[link]

Several ties showing the Paisley pattern that made the town famous in the 19th century

Paisley, as with other areas in Renfrewshire, was at one time famous for its weaving and textile industries. As a consequence, the Paisley pattern has long symbolic associations with the town. Until the Jacquard loom was introduced in the 1820s, weaving was a cottage industry. This innovation led to the industrialisation of the process and many larger mills were created in the town. Also as a consequence of greater mechanisation, many weavers lost their livelihoods and left for Canada and Australia. Paisley was for many years a centre for the manufacture of cotton sewing thread. At the heyday of Paisley thread manufacture in the 1930s, there were 28,000 people employed in the huge Anchor and Ferguslie mills of J & P Coats Ltd, said to be the largest of their kind in the world at that time.^[8] In the 1950s, the mills diversified into the production of synthetic threads but production diminished rapidly as a result of less expensive imports from overseas and the establishment of mills in India and Brazil by J & P Coats. By the end of the 1980s, there was no thread being produced in Paisley. Both industries have left a permanent mark on the town in the form of the many places with textile related names, for example, Dyer's Wynd, Cotton Street, Thread Street, Shuttle Street, Lawn Street, Silk Street, Mill Street, Gauze Street and Incle Street.^{[citation needed]}

The town also supported a number of engineering works some of which relied on the textile industry, others on shipbuilding. Paisley once had five shipyards including John Fullerton and Company (1866–1928), Bow, McLachlan and Company (1872–1932) and Fleming and Ferguson (1877–1969). These have declined in the area, with engineering firms such as Fullerton, Hodgart and Barclay and Whites Engineering closing in the mid-1970s.^{[citation needed]}

Advertisement for Brown & Polson's, 1894

Advertisement for the Ferguslie Thread Works in the 1867 Paris World Fair catalogue

Glasgow International Airport in Paisley's Abbotsinch area.

A number of food manufacture companies have existed in Paisley. The preserve manufacturer Robertsons which was founded in Paisley in the 1860s was taken over by Rank Hovis McDougall who closed its Stevenson Street factory and transferred production to Bristol, Manchester and London in the 1970s. Brown & Polson commenced producing starch and cornflour in Paisley in the 1860s. It later became CPC Foods Ltd, a subsidiary of Unilever, which produced Hellmann's mayonnaise, Gerber baby foods and Knorr soups. The company ceased production in Paisley in 2002.^{[citation needed]}

A number of industries remained in the area until recent times. In 1981 Peugeot Talbot, formerly Chrysler and before that Rootes, announced that its Linwood factory just outside of Paisley would cease production. This led to the loss of almost 5,000 jobs.^[9] Since the 1980s, a number of other employers have closed such as the British Gas distribution and service centre, Cadbury's distribution centre and William Grant & Sons the Scotch whisky producer which moved production to Strathclyde Business Park near Bellshill in Lanarkshire.^{[citation needed]}

Some of the businesses remaining in the town are Scotch whisky blenders and bottlers Chivas Brothers now a subsidiary of Pernod Ricard, Stellar a global contact centre provider and the pigment manufactory of the Swiss company Ciba Geigy. Both companies employ considerably fewer people than in the past.^{[citation needed]} The public sector is now a significant employer in Paisley, with the headquarters of Renfrewshire Council, the University of the West of Scotland, Reid Kerr College, the Royal Alexandra Hospital and a divisional headquarters of Strathclyde Police all located in the town.^{[citation needed]}Glasgow International Airport, located on the edge of Paisley, is also a significant employer and part of the area's transport infrastructure. The airline Loganair's registered office is located within the airport complex.^[10]

At one time M&Co. (Mackeys) had its head office in the Caledonia House in Paisley.^[11]

Landmarks[link]

Civic buildings[link]

Renfrewshire House, headquarters of Renfrewshire Council

As the administrative centre of the county of Renfrewshire, Renfrew District and, currently, Renfrewshire council area, Paisley is home to many significant civic buildings. Paisley Town Hall, adjacent to the Abbey, was funded by the Clark family, owners of the Anchor Mills. In competition, Sir Peter Coats funded the construction of the modern Paisley Museum and Central Library (1871), also in a neo-Classical style. The Clarks and Coats families dominated Paisley industry until their companies merged in 1896.^[3] Renfrewshire's former County Buildings, Police Station and Jail on County Square have been since demolished, and the County Council then met in a newer neo-classical building which now houses Paisley Sheriff Court.

Renfrewshire House, the modern headquarters of Renfrewshire Council, was constructed as Paisley Civic Centre. Designed by Hutcheson, Locke and Monk following a competition, the building was designed to house offices of both the county and town councils. It was intended to become a civic hub for Paisley but the absence of any shops and non-council premises prevented this from happening.^[12] It became the home of the Renfrew sub-region of Strathclyde Regional Council in 1975 and of Renfrewshire Council in 1996. It is listed by the conservation organisation DoCoMoMo as one of the sixty key Scottish monuments of the post-war period.

Other civic buildings of interest include the Russell Institute, an art deco building constructed in 1926.^[13]

Religious sites[link]

Paisley Abbey was the burial place of many Scottish Kings of the House of Stewart during the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries.

Most noticeable among the buildings of Paisley is its medieval Abbey in the centre of the town dating from the 12th century. The earliest surviving architecture is the south-east doorway in the nave from the cloister, which has a round arched doorway typical of Romanesque or Norman architecture which was the prevalent architectural style before the adoption of Gothic. The choir (east end) and tower date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries and are examples of Gothic Revival architecture. They were reconstructed in three main phases of restorations with the tower and choir conforming to the designs of Dr Peter MacGregor Chalmers. The roof in the nave is the most recent of restorations with the plaster ceiling by Rev Dr Boog which was added in the 1790s being replaced by a timber roof in 1981.

Thomas Coats Memorial Church

Coats Memorial Baptist Church or Thomas Coats Memorial Church is an example of Gothic Revival architecture. It dominates the town's skyline with its crown spire more than 60 metres (197 ft) high. Opened in 1894 and designed by Hippolyte Jean Blanc^[14] it is the largest Baptist church in Europe. The exterior is made of old red sandstone. Inside, the church is decorated with wood carvings, mosaic floors and marble fonts. The church also contains a 3040 pipe Hill Organ.

The Cathedral Church of Saint Mirin (St Mirin's Cathedral) in Incle Street is the seat of the Catholic Bishop of Paisley. The church was completed in 1931 to replace an earlier building, in nearby East Buchanan Street, which dated from 1808. The original St Mirin's church was the first Catholic church to be built in Scotland since the Reformation. With the erection of the Diocese of Paisley in 1947 the church was raised to cathedral status. St Matthew's Church (Church of the Nazarene) at the junction of Gordon Street and Johnston Street is Art Nouveau in style. Designed by local architect William Daniel McLennan, a contemporary of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, it was built in 1906.

Other[link]

The Dooslan stane and the tolbooth bases in Brodie Park.

As a result of its historic textile industry, Paisley is home to many examples of Victorian industrial architecture. Most notable is the Category A listed Anchor Mills, built in 1886. The building was converted in 2005 into residential flats.^[15][16] Textiles have a longer history in Paisley, represented by the Sma' Shot cottages complex on Shuttle Street: a small public museum of weaving from its 18th century origins as a cottage industry.^[17]

Another landmark connected with the textile industry is the Dooslan Stane or Stone. The stone was a meeting place of the Weavers Union in the South of Paisley and was also used as a "soapbox" and was originally inscribed with its history (now largely faded). It was moved from its original site in the corner of Neilston Road and Rowan Street to its present location in Brodie Park. Also present, arranged around the Dooslan Stane, are the four original Paisley Tolbooth stones. The Dooslan Stane is still used today as the congregating point for the annual Sma' Shot parade which takes place on the first Saturday in July.^[18]

The composer Thomas Wilson's 1988 work Passeleth Tapestry (later his Fourth Symphony) commemorates the history of Paisley across a 30 minute single movement span. Commissioned by Renfrew District Council to mark Paisley's 500th anniversary as a burgh of barony, it was premiered on 6 August 1988 in Paisley Abbey with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under Bryden Thomson.

A memorial also exists in the town to the legal case of Donoghue v Stevenson, also known as the Paisley Snail Case, which established the modern rules of negligence in Scots law and the legal systems of the Commonwealth.

Education[link]

Paisley Grammar School, now a state comprehensive.

Paisley is the main site for the modern University of the West of Scotland, which was created from a merger between the University of Paisley and Bell College in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire. The University of Paisley was granted university status in 1992, having existed previously as a central institution known as Paisley College of Technology. A further education college, Reid Kerr College, is also based in the town.

There are currently four comprehensive state secondary schools in Paisley: Paisley Grammar School, Castlehead High School, St. Andrew's Academy and Gleniffer High School. The oldest of these is Paisley Grammar which was founded in 1576 and was one of two former grammar schools in the town – alongside the former John Neilson Institution (latterly John Neilson High School) founded in 1852. Other former secondary schools in the area include Merksworth High School (to the north west of the town), St Mirin's Academy or High School (on the west side of the town), St Aelred's High School and Stanely Green High School (both on the south side of the town). Of the current schools in the town, all are non-denominational save for St Andrew's Academy which is a Roman Catholic school.

Religion[link]

The Roman Catholic Cathedral of Saint Mirin

Paisley is home to a number of religious denominations and an important historical centre for the Christian faith in Scotland. The town's historic patron saint is Saint Mirin (or Mirren); according to legendary accounts, Mirin settled in Paisley as a missionary sent from Ireland in the 6th century and was instrumental in bringing the relics of St Andrew to Scotland.^[19] Paisley Abbey, one of the towns most significant landmarks, was constructed in the 12th century and raised to abbey status in the 13th. It served as an ecclesiatical centre for a wide area surrounding the county of Renfrewshire for centuries until the Reformation where such religious centres were reduced to the status of parish churches. For the established Church of Scotland, Paisley forms part of the Presbytery of Greenock and Paisley in the Synod of Clydesdale (see: Church of Scotland synods and presbyteries).

Other Christian communities have a number of churches in Paisley, many of which were the result of the Industrial Revolution where people from around the British Isles^{[citation needed]} came to Paisley for work.^[20] The Roman Catholic Diocese of Paisley, created in 1947, is centred upon the town's St Mirin's Cathedral, the seat of the Bishop of Paisley. Paisley also forms part of the Episcopalian (Anglican) Diocese of Glasgow and Galloway with the its main facilities being contained at the Holy Trinity and St Barnabas Church in the town centre, a congregation which united in 2004.^[21] The Coats Memorial Baptist Church, one of the town's major landmarks and the largest Baptist church building in Europe, is the centre of Paisley's Baptist congregation and was constructed in 1894.^[22]

Other smaller religious groups exist in the town. The Methodist Church of Great Britain has a church and central hall opposite Paisley Abbey which forms part of the Ayrshire and Renfrewshire Circuit.^[23] The Christadelphians meet in a hall on Alice Street.^[24] There is a small Islamic centre on Paisley Road in nearby Renfrew and a larger mosque in Glasgow.

Notable people[link]

Historically, Paisley was notable as being the religious home of the Stewart family who descended from Walter FitzAlan, the first High Steward of Scotland and founder of Paisley Abbey, eventually becoming the Scottish and British Royal Family. The Stewarts once resided at a castle in nearby Renfrew. All six of the High Stewards are buried in the Abbey, as is Marjorie Bruce – the eldest daughter of Robert I of Scotland (Robert the Bruce) – who married the 6th High Steward thus founding the Stewart dynasty. The first Stewart King of Scotland and son of Marjorie Bruce and Walter Stewart, Robert II, is believed to have been born in the Abbey. His son, Robert III is buried there.^[20]

Ronald Reagan's maternal great-great grand-parents, Claude Wilson and Margaret Downey were married at Paisley High Church on 23 May 1807.^[25]

Other notable people associated with Paisley include:

Arts[link]

Media[link]

Banking[link]

Education[link]

Politics[link]

Sport[link]

Paleontology[link]

Other[link]

Media[link]

Paisley has one local daily newspaper, the Paisley Daily Express, based in New Street in the town centre. It is owned by the Trinity Mirror Group. Various local radio stations have operated at times, including Q96 from 1992 to 2007 – serving the Renfrewshire area, although for a considerable period based in neighbouring Glasgow. Its replacement, Glasgow-based Guardian Media Group station 96.3 Rock Radio carries Renfrewshire focused material. Since October 2011 Rock Radio, faced with falling advertising revenue, was rebranded by Guardian Media Group as Real Radio XS after a proposed management buyout failed to materialise.^[27]

Sport[link]

St Mirren F.C. is Paisley's sole professional association football team and returned to playing in the Scottish Premier League in 2006. In 2009, the team moved from their Love Street stadium to a new 8,029 stadium known formally as St Mirren Park on Greenhill Road. St Mirren last won the Scottish Cup on 16 May 1987.^[28] Since then, the club has won the Scottish First division title twice, in the 1999–2000 season, and in the 2005–2006 season, as well as winning the Challenge Cup in 2005. In addition to professional football, the club is also involved in youth development and social projects in the town. Another professional football team, Abercorn F.C., was based in Paisley until its decline and liquidation in 1920.

Paisley is also home to the Kelburne Hockey Club, who have dominated Scottish domestic hockey in the last 3 seasons. Kelburne HC run 5 gentlemen's teams, 3 ladies' teams and have over 100 juniors regularly competing for the club at district and national level. Kelburne HC has also supplies the Scottish National Team with the vast majority of the gentlemen's team. The club has also had success in Europe with recent tournament victories in Austria and Switzerland.

Motorcycle speedway was staged at St Mirren Park (Love Street) in 1975 and 1976 when the Paisley Lions raced in the second division of the British League. The Lions were moderately successful but despite the best efforts of their supporters, the venue ceased to operate.

Transport[link]

Paisley Gilmour Street railway station.

Paisley is connected to the motorway network, the National Rail network and contains Glasgow International Airport within its boundaries.

Paisley is connected by road to the United Kingdom's motorway network with the M8 running along the northern edge of the town, providing access to Greenock to the west and Glasgow to the east. This forms part of the unsigned E05 Euroroute from Greenock to Gibraltar. Many major A roads converge through the town including the A726, A737 and A761. The Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, a public body, has direct operational responsibilities covering the area, such as supporting (and in some cases running) local bus services in Paisley and across Strathclyde.^[29]

The town is served by four railway stations and linked by rail to Glasgow city centre as well as Inverclyde and the Ayrshire coast. Paisley Gilmour Street is the largest of the stations, with smaller stations at Paisley St James, Paisley Canal and Hawkhead. The rail links also connect to Glasgow Prestwick International Airport and ferry routes to Dunoon, the Isle of Arran, Isle of Bute and Ireland. Over the years there have been thirteen railway stations in Paisley and three rail lines that are now closed. The Paisley and Barrhead District Railway,^[30] the Barrhead Branch^[30] of the GSWR, and the Paisley and Renfrew Railway.^[31] Paisley Canal station and the Paisley Canal Line owe their names to the Glasgow, Paisley and Johnstone Canal which occupied the route of the line until 1885, when it was filled in.

Glasgow International Airport, operated by BAA and Scotland's largest airport, is located to the north of Paisley at Abbotsinch. It is adjacent to the M8 Motorway and served by a bus link from Paisley Gilmour Street railway station. The planned Glasgow Airport Rail Link project, which was to run through Paisley, was abandoned in 2009. As mentioned above, Glasgow Prestwick Airport in Ayrshire is directly accessible by rail from Paisley Gilmour Street station.

Public services[link]

Paisley Sheriff Court and former County Buildings

The territorial police force covering Paisley is Strathclyde Police and the town accommodates the headquarters of the constabulary's K Division (Renfrewshire and Inverclyde) at Mill Street. Paisley is divided into four community policing areas: Paisley North-west (incorporating Linwood and Glasgow International Airport), Paisley South-west (incorporating Elderslie), Paisley East and Ralston and Paisley South.^[32] For judicial purposes, the area forms part of the sheriffdom of North Strathclyde and public prosecutions are directed by the Procurator Fiscal for Argyll and Clyde. There is a Sheriff Court at Paisley, which occasionally houses sittings of Scotland's High Court of Justiciary.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is the National Health Service Board serving Paisley and the town's main hospital with accident and emergency facilities is the Royal Alexandra Hospital. Strathclyde Fire and Rescue is the statutory fire and rescue service covering Paisley, with one community fire station on the town's Canal Street.^[33]

Water and sewerage is provided in Paisley by Scottish Water, a public body, and water and sewerage charges are collected alongside council tax by Renfrewshire Council, the local authority, on its behalf. Renfrewshire Council is also responsible for the provision of waste management in the area.^[34] Paisley's Distribution Network Operator, the organisation licensed to transmit electricity from the National Grid to consumers, is Scottish Power.^[35]

See also[link]

Scotland portal

• Castlehead, Paisley
• University of the West of Scotland
• Paisley Pipe Band
• Paisley canal disaster
• Paisley Witches
• Inkerman, Paisley
• Paisley (design)
• Paisley Grammar School
• Castlehead High School
• St Mirin's Academy
• Gockston
• Gallowhill
• Ralston

References[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2011)

External links[link]

• Official Paisley Site
• Paisley2020.org – Future-focused website keeping you up-to-date with developments

• Paisley Mansions web page

Gerry Adams TD Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh
President of Sinn Féin
Incumbent
Assumed office 13 November 1983
Preceded by	Ruairí Ó Brádaigh
Teachta Dála
Incumbent
Assumed office February 2011
Preceded by	Arthur Morgan
Constituency	Louth
Member of Parliament for Belfast West
In office 1 May 1997 – 26 January 2011
Preceded by	Joe Hendron
Succeeded by	Paul Maskey
Majority	17,759 (54.7%)
In office 9 June 1983 – 9 April 1992
Preceded by	Gerry Fitt
Succeeded by	Joe Hendron
Majority	16,862 (41.1%)
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Belfast West
In office 25 June 1998 – 7 December 2010
Preceded by	Constituency Created
Succeeded by	Pat Sheehan
Personal details
Born	(1948-10-06) 6 October 1948 (age 63) Belfast, Northern Ireland
Nationality	Irish[1][2]
Political party	Sinn Féin
Spouse(s)	Collette McArdle
Children	3
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Website	Official website

Gerry Adams (Irish: Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh;^[3] born 6 October 1948 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála (TD) for the constituency of Louth.^[4][5] From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest^[6] political party in Northern Ireland and the largest nationalist party.^[7][8] From the late 1980s onwards, Adams was an important figure in the Northern Ireland peace process, initially following contact by the then Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader John Hume and subsequently with the Irish and British governments and then other parties. In 2005, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) indicated that its armed campaign was over and that it is now exclusively committed to democratic politics.^[9] Under Adams, Sinn Féin changed its traditional policy of abstentionism towards Oireachtas Éireann, the parliament of the Republic of Ireland, in 1986 and later took seats in the power-sharing Northern Ireland Assembly. However, Sinn Féin retains a policy of abstentionism towards the Westminster Parliament, but since 2002, receives allowances for staff and takes up offices in the House of Commons.^[10]

Ancestry and early life[link]

Adams' parents, Gerry Adams, Sr. and Annie Hannaway, came from republican backgrounds. Adams' grandfather, also called Gerry Adams, had been a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) during the Irish War of Independence. Two of Adams' uncles, Dominic and Patrick Adams, had been interned by the governments in Belfast and Dublin. Although it is reported that his uncle Dominic was a one-time IRA chief of staff, J. Bowyer Bell states in his book, The Secret Army: The IRA 1916 (Irish Academy Press), that Dominic Adams was a senior figure in the IRA of the mid-1940s. Gerry Sr. joined the IRA at age sixteen. In 1942, he participated in an IRA ambush on a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) patrol but was himself shot, arrested and sentenced to eight years imprisonment.

Adams' maternal great-grandfather, Michael Hannaway, was a member of the Fenians during their dynamiting campaign in England in the 1860s and 1870s. Michael's son, Billy, was election agent for Éamon de Valera in 1918 in West Belfast but refused to follow de Valera into democratic and constitutional politics upon the formation of Fianna Fáil.

Annie Hannaway was a member of Cumann na mBan, the women's branch of the IRA. Three of her brothers (Alfie, Liam and Tommy) were known IRA members.

Adams attended St Finian's Primary School on the Falls Road where he was taught by De La Salle brothers. Having passed the eleven-plus exam in 1960, he attended St Mary's Christian Brothers Grammar School. He left St. Mary's with six O-levels and became a barman. He was increasingly involved in the Irish republican movement, joining Sinn Féin and Fianna Éireann in 1964, after being radicalised by the Divis Street riots during that year's general election campaign.^[11]

In 1971, Adams married Collette McArdle,^[12] with whom he has three children.

Early political career[link]

The Easter Lily is a badge worn at Easter by Irish republicans as symbol of remembrance for Irish combatants who died during or were executed after the 1916 Easter Rising.

In the late 1960s, a civil rights campaign developed in Northern Ireland. Adams was an active supporter and joined the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association in 1967.^[11] However, the civil rights movement was met with protests from loyalist counter-demonstrators. In August 1969, Northern Ireland cities like Belfast and Derry erupted in major rioting and British troops were called in at the request of the Government of Northern Ireland (see 1969 Northern Ireland Riots).

Adams was active in Sinn Féin at this time, siding with the Provisionals in the split of 1970.^{[citation needed]} In August 1971, internment was reintroduced to Northern Ireland under the Special Powers Act 1922. Adams was interned in March 1972, on HMS Maidstone, but was released in June to take part in secret, but abortive talks in London.^[11] The IRA negotiated a short-lived truce with the British government and an IRA delegation met with the British Home Secretary, William Whitelaw at Cheyne Walk in Chelsea. The delegation included Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness, Sean Mac Stiofain (IRA Chief of Staff), Daithi O'Conaill, Seamus Twomey, Ivor Bell and Dublin solicitor Myles Shevlin.^[13] The IRA insisted Adams be included in the meeting and he was released from internment to participate. Following the failure of the talks, he played a central role in planning the bomb blitz on Belfast known as Bloody Friday.^[11] He was re-arrested in July 1973 and interned at the Long Kesh internment camp. After taking part in an IRA-organised escape attempt, he was sentenced to a period of imprisonment. During this time, he wrote articles in the paper An Phoblacht under the by-line "Brownie", where he criticized the strategy and policy of Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and Billy McKee. He was also highly critical of a decision taken in Belfast by McKee to assassinate members of the rival Official IRA, who had been on ceasefire since 1972.^[14] After his release in 1976, he was again arrested in 1978 for alleged IRA membership, the charges were subsequently dismissed.^[15]

During the 1981 hunger strike, Adams played an important policy-making role, which saw the emergence of his party as a political force. In 1983, he was elected president of Sinn Féin and became the first Sinn Féin MP elected to the British House of Commons since Phil Clarke and Tom Mitchell in the mid-1950s.^[11] Following his election as MP for Belfast West, the British government lifted a ban on him travelling to Great Britain. In line with Sinn Féin policy, he refused to take his seat in the House of Commons.

On 14 March 1984 in central Belfast, Adams was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt when several Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) gunmen fired about 20 shots into the car in which he was travelling. He was hit in the neck, shoulder and arm. After the shooting, he was rushed to the Royal Victoria Hospital, where he underwent surgery to remove the three bullets which had entered his body. Under-cover plain clothes police officers seized three suspects who were later convicted and sentenced.^[16] One of the three was John Gregg, who would be killed by rival loyalists in 2003. Adams claimed that the British army had prior knowledge of the attack and allowed it to go ahead.^[17]

Allegations of IRA membership[link]

Adams has stated repeatedly that he has never been a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA).^[18] However, authors such as Ed Moloney, Peter Taylor, Mark Urban and historian Richard English have all named Adams as part of the IRA leadership since the 1970s.^{[19][20][21][22]} Adams has denied Moloney's claims, calling them "libellous".^[23]

President of Sinn Féin[link]

In 1978, Gerry Adams became joint vice-president of Sinn Féin and a key figure in directing a challenge to the Sinn Féin leadership of President Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and joint vice- president Dáithí Ó Conaill.

The 1975 IRA-British truce is often viewed as the event that began the challenge to the original Provisional Sinn Féin leadership, which was said to be Southern-based and dominated by southerners like Ó Brádaigh and Ó Conaill. However, the Chief of Staff of the IRA at the time, Seamus Twomey, was a senior figure from Belfast. Others in the leadership were also Northern based, including Billy McKee from Belfast. Adams (allegedly) rose to become the most senior figure in the IRA Northern Command on the basis of his absolute rejection of anything but military action, but this conflicts with the fact that during his time in prison, Adams came to reassess his approach and became more political.^{[citation needed]}

One of the reasons that the Provisional IRA and provisional Sinn Féin were founded, in December 1969 and January 1970, respectively, was that people like Ó Brádaigh, O'Connell and McKee opposed participation in constitutional politics. The other reason was the failure of the Goulding leadership to provide for the defence of nationalist areas. When, at the December 1969 IRA convention and the January 1970 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis the delegates voted to participate in the Dublin (Leinster House), Belfast (Stormont) and London (Westminster) parliaments, the organizations split. Gerry Adams, who had joined the Republican Movement in the early 1960s, sided with the Provisionals.

In Long Kesh in the mid-1970s, and writing under the pseudonym "Brownie" in Republican News, Adams called on Republicans for increased political activity, especially at a local level.^[24] The call resonated with younger Northern people, many of whom had been active in the Provisional IRA but had not necessarily been highly active in Sinn Féin. In 1977, Adams and Danny Morrison drafted the address of Jimmy Drumm at the Annual Wolfe Tone Commemoration at Bodenstown. The address was viewed as watershed in that Drumm acknowledged that the war would be a long one and that success depended on political activity that would complement the IRA's armed campaign. For some,^[who?] this wedding of politics and armed struggle culminated in Danny Morrison's statement at the 1981 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis in which he asked "Who here really believes we can win the war through the Ballot box? But will anyone here object if, with a ballot paper in one hand and the Armalite in the other, we take power in Ireland". For others, however, the call to link political activity with armed struggle had been clearly defined in Sinn Féin policy and in the Presidential Addresses of Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, but it had not resonated with the young Northerners.^[25]

Gerry Adams at the Fermanagh Commemoration.

Even after the election of Bobby Sands as MP for Fermanagh/South Tyrone, a part of the mass mobilization associated with the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike by republican prisoners in the H blocks of the Maze prison (known as Long Kesh by Republicans), Adams was cautious about the level of political involvement by Sinn Féin. Charles Haughey, the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland, called an election for June 1981. At an Ard Chomhairle meeting, Adams recommended that they contest only four constituencies which were in border counties. Instead, H-Block/Armagh Candidates contested nine constituencies and elected two TDs. This, along with the election of Bobby Sands, was a precursor to a big electoral breakthrough in elections in 1982 to the Northern Ireland Assembly.^[26] Adams, Danny Morrison, Martin McGuinness, Jim McAllister, and Owen Carron were elected as abstentionists. The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) had announced before the election that it would not take any seats and so its 14 elected representatives also abstained from participating in the Assembly and it was a failure. The 1982 election was followed by the 1983 Westminster election, in which Sinn Féin's vote increased and Gerry Adams was elected, as an abstentionist, as MP for Belfast West. It was in 1983 that Ruairí Ó Brádaigh resigned as President of Sinn Féin and was succeeded by Gerry Adams.

Republicans had long claimed that the only legitimate Irish state was the Irish Republic declared in the Proclamation of the Republic of 1916, which they considered to be still in existence.^{[citation needed]} In their view, the legitimate government was the IRA Army Council, which had been vested with the authority of that Republic in 1938 (prior to the Second World War) by the last remaining anti-Treaty deputies of the Second Dáil. Adams continued to adhere to this claim of republican political legitimacy^{[citation needed]} until quite recently — however, in his 2005 speech to the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis he explicitly rejected it. "But we refuse to criminalise those who break the law in pursuit of legitimate political objectives. ... Sinn Féin is accused of recognising the Army Council of the IRA as the legitimate government of this island. That is not the case. ... do not believe that the Army Council is the government of Ireland. Such a government will only exist when all the people of this island elect it. Does Sinn Féin accept the institutions of this state as the legitimate institutions of this state? Of course we do."^[27]

As a result of this non-recognition, Sinn Féin had abstained from taking any of the seats they won in the British or Irish parliaments. At its 1986 Ard Fheis, Sinn Féin delegates passed a resolution to amend the rules and constitution that would allow its members to sit in the Dublin parliament (Leinster House/Dáil Éireann). At this, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh led a small walkout, just as he and Sean Mac Stiofain had done sixteen years earlier with the creation of Provisional Sinn Féin.^{[28][29][30][31]} This minority, which rejected dropping the policy of abstentionism, now nominally distinguishes itself from Provisional Sinn Féin by using the name Republican Sinn Féin (or Sinn Féin Poblachtach), and maintains that they are the true Sinn Féin republicans.

Adams' leadership of Sinn Féin was supported by a Northern-based cadre that included people like Danny Morrison and Martin McGuinness. Over time, Adams and others pointed to Republican electoral successes in the early and mid-1980s, when hunger strikers Bobby Sands and Kieran Doherty were elected to the British House of Commons and Dáil Éireann respectively, and they advocated that Sinn Féin become increasingly political and base its influence on electoral politics rather than paramilitarism. The electoral effects of this strategy were shown later by the election of Adams and McGuinness to the House of Commons.

Voice ban[link]

Adams's prominence as an Irish Republican leader was increased by the ban on the media broadcast of his voice (the ban actually covered eleven republican and loyalist organisations,^[32] but in practice Adams was the only one prominent enough to appear regularly on TV). This ban was imposed by the then prime minister Margaret Thatcher on 19 October 1988, the reason given being to "starve the terrorist and the hijacker of the oxygen of publicity on which they depend"^[33] after the BBC interviewed Martin McGuinness and Adams had been the focus of a row over an edition of After Dark, an intended Channel 4 discussion programme which was never made.^[34][35]

A similar ban, known as Section 31, had been law in the Republic of Ireland since the 1970s. However, media outlets soon found ways around the ban, initially by the use of subtitles, but later and more commonly by the use of an actor reading his words over the images of him speaking. One actor who voiced Adams was Paul Loughran.^[36]

This ban was lampooned in cartoons and satirical TV shows, such as Spitting Image, and in The Day Today and was criticised by freedom of speech organisations and British media personalities, including BBC Director General John Birt and BBC foreign editor John Simpson. The ban was lifted by British Prime Minister John Major on 17 September 1994.^{[citation needed]}

Moving into mainstream politics[link]

Sinn Féin continued its policy of refusing to sit in the Westminster Parliament even after Adams won the Belfast West constituency. He lost his seat to Joe Hendron of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) in the 1992 general election, regaining it at the following 1997 election.

Under Adams, Sinn Féin appeared to move away from being a political voice of the Provisional IRA to becoming a professionally organised political party in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

SDLP leader John Hume, MP, identified the possibility that a negotiated settlement might be possible and began secret talks with Adams in 1988. These discussions led to unofficial contacts with the British Northern Ireland Office under the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Brooke, and with the government of the Republic under Charles Haughey – although both governments maintained in public that they would not negotiate with "terrorists".

These talks provided the groundwork for what was later to be the Belfast Agreement, as well as the milestone Downing Street Declaration and the Joint Framework Document.

These negotiations led to the IRA ceasefire in August 1994. Irish Taoiseach Albert Reynolds, who had replaced Haughey and who had played a key role in the Hume/Adams dialogue through his Special Advisor Martin Mansergh, regarded the ceasefire as permanent. However, the slow pace of developments contributed in part to the (wider) political difficulties of the British government of John Major and the consequent reliance on Ulster Unionist Party votes in the House of Commons, led the IRA to end its ceasefire and resume the campaign.^{[citation needed]}

A re-instituted ceasefire later followed as part of the negotiations strategy, which saw teams from the British and Irish governments, the Ulster Unionist Party, the SDLP, Sinn Féin and representatives of loyalist paramilitary organizations, under the chairmanship of former United States Senator George Mitchell, produced the Belfast Agreement (also called the Good Friday Agreement as it was signed on Good Friday, 1998). Under the agreement, structures were created reflecting the Irish and British identities of the people of Ireland, with a British-Irish Council and a Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly created.

Articles 2 and 3 of the Republic's constitution, which claimed sovereignty over all of Ireland, were reworded, and a power-sharing Executive Committee was provided for. As part of their deal, Sinn Féin agreed to abandon its abstentionist policy regarding a "six-county parliament", as a result taking seats in the new Stormont-based Assembly and running the education and health and social services ministries in the power-sharing government.

On 15 August 1998, four months after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, the Real IRA exploded a car bomb in Omagh, County Tyrone, killing 31 people and injuring 220, from many communities. Breaking with tradition, Adams said in reaction to the bombing "I am totally horrified by this action. I condemn it without any equivocation whatsoever."^[37] Prior to this, Adams had maintained a policy of refusing to condemn IRA or their splinter groups' actions.

Opponents in Republican Sinn Féin accused Sinn Féin of "selling out" by agreeing to participate in what it called "partitionist assemblies" in the Republic and Northern Ireland. However, Gerry Adams insisted that the Belfast Agreement provided a mechanism to deliver a united Ireland by non-violent and constitutional means, much as Michael Collins had said of the Anglo-Irish Treaty nearly 80 years earlier.

When Sinn Féin came to nominate its two ministers to the Northern Ireland Executive, for tactical reasons the party, like the SDLP and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), chose not to include its leader among its ministers. (When later the SDLP chose a new leader, it selected one of its ministers, Mark Durkan, who then opted to remain in the Committee.)

Adams remains the President of Sinn Féin. In 2011 he succeeded Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin as Sinn Féin parliamentary leader in Dáil Éireann. Daithí McKay is the head of the Sinn Féin group in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Adams was re-elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly on 8 March 2007,^[38] and on 26 March 2007, he met with DUP leader Ian Paisley face-to-face for the first time, and the two came to an agreement regarding the return of the power-sharing executive in Northern Ireland.^[39]

In January 2009, Adams attended the United States presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama as a guest of US Congressman Richard Neal.^[40]

On 6 May 2010, Adams was re-elected as MP for West Belfast garnering 71.1% of the vote.^[41] In 2011 the Chancellor appointed Adams to the British title of Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead to allow him to resign from the House of Commons and to stand for election in the Dáil.^[42] Initially it was claimed by David Cameron that Adams had accepted the title but Downing Street has since apologized for this and Adams has publicly rejected the title stating, "I have had no truck whatsoever with these antiquated and quite bizarre aspects of the British parliamentary system".^[43][44]

Dáil Éireann Election[link]

In 2010, Adams announced that he would be seeking election as a TD (member of Irish Parliament) for the constituency of Louth at the 2011 Irish general election.^[45] He subsequently resigned his West Belfast Assembly seat on 7 December 2010.^[46]

Following the announcement of the Irish general election, 2011, Adams wrote to the House of Commons to resign his seat.^[47][48] This was treated as an application for the position of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead, an office of profit under the Crown, the traditional method of leaving Westminster as plain resignation is not possible, and granted as such even though Adams had not explicitly made the request.^{[49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56]}

He was elected to the Dáil, topping the Louth constituency poll with 15,072 (21.7%) first preference votes.^[57]

Gerry Adams in film and fiction[link]

The character of Gerry Adams has been portrayed in a number of films, TV programmes or in fiction:

• 2004 film Omagh by actor Jonathan Ryan. It is a dramatisation of the 1998 Omagh bombing and its aftermath.
• 2010 TV film Mo by actor John Lynch; the story of Mo Mowlam and the Good Friday Agreement.
• Novel The Marching Season; a spy fiction novel by Daniel Silva.
• 1996 Novel Eureka Street by Robert McLiam Wilson, as the character Jimmy Eve.

Published works[link]

• Falls Memories, 1982
• The Politics of Irish Freedom, 1986
• A Pathway to Peace, 1988
• An Irish Voice
• Cage Eleven, 1990, Brandon Books, ISBN 978-0-86322-114-9
• The Street and Other Stories, 1993, Brandon Books, ISBN 978-0-86322-293-1
• Free Ireland: Towards a Lasting Peace, 1995
• Before the Dawn, 1996, Brandon Books, ISBN 978-0-434-00341-9
• Selected Writings
• Who Fears to Speak...?, 2001(Original Edition 1991), Beyond the Pale Publications, ISBN 978-1-900960-13-7
• An Irish Journal, 2001, Brandon Books, ISBN 978-0-86322-282-5
• Hope and History, 2003, Brandon Books, ISBN 978-0-86322-330-3
• A Farther Shore, 2005, Random House
• "The New Ireland: A Vision For The Future", 2005, Brandon Books, ISBN 978-0-86322-344-0
• An Irish Eye, 2007, Brandon Books, ISBN 978-0-86322-370-9

Further reading[link]

• Allen Randolph, Jody. "Gerry Adams, August 2009." Close to the Next Moment: Interviews from a Changing Ireland. Manchester: Carcanet, 2010.
• Keena, Colm. Biography of Gerry Adams. Cork: Mercier Press, 1990

See also[link]

• Public Prosecution Service of Northern Ireland v. Liam Adams
• Resignation from the British House of Commons

References[link]

External links[link]

• Léargas blog by Gerry Adams MP
• Column archive at The Guardian
• Gerry Adams Sinn Féin profile
• Gerry Adams TD Louth election candidate
• Electoral history and profile at The Guardian
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou.com
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
• Profile at BBC News Democracy Live
• Articles authored at Journalisted
• Gerry Adams at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Gerry Adams in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Gerry Adams collected news and commentary at The Guardian
• Gerry Adams collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Gerry Adams Man Of War and Man Of Peace? Anthony McIntyre, The Blanket, 28 April 2004
• Interview with Gerry Adams February 2006
• Gerry Adams Profile at New Statesman