Sat 04 Apr 2007An Irishman's DiarySince the great moment at Farmleigh 10 days ago, I have been
remembering an evening which spread into a night, and a night which
spilled into a gloriously bright December Sunday morning in 1971,
and wondering if Ian Paisley's famous handshake with a Taoiseach
might not have come much sooner, writes
Henry Kelly.The events on that night more than 35 years ago happened by
accident. Ian Paisley, Stormont MP for Bannside and his political
lieutenant, Desmond Boal QC, MP for Shankill, had been having tea
in the Europa Hotel in Belfast. Vincent Browne, then of the
Irish Press, the late Liam Hourican of RTÉ and myself
stumbled into their company. We started to talk at about eight
o'clock in the evening. Paisley kept telling us he wanted an early
night because Sunday was an important day for him with services in
his Martyrs Memorial Free Presbyterian Church on the Ravenhill
Road. More tea. More talk.