Ian Paisley

The Reverend and Right Honourable The Lord Bannside PC
Revd Dr Ian Paisley MP MLA (2008)
First Minister of Northern Ireland
In office 8 May 2007 – 5 June 2008 Serving with 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	David McIlveen
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.
Leader of the Protestant Unionist Party
In office 1966 – 30 September 1971
Preceded by	Office created
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Personal details
Born	Ian Richard Kyle Paisley 6 April 1926 Armagh, Northern Ireland
Died	12 September 2014(2014-09-12) (aged 88) Belfast, Northern Ireland
Resting place	Ballygowan, County Down
Nationality	British
Political party	Democratic Unionist Party
Spouse(s)	Eileen Cassells (m. 1956)
Children	Rhonda Sharon Cherith Kyle Ian
Alma mater	Barry School of Evangelism
Occupation	Evangelist Politician Political activist
Profession	Minister
Religion	Free Presbyterian
Website	Official website

Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, PC (6 April 1926 – 12 September 2014) was a loyalist politician and Protestant religious leader from Northern Ireland.

He became a Protestant evangelical minister in 1946 and remained one for the rest of his life. In 1951 he co-founded the fundamentalist Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster and was its leader until 2008. Paisley became known for his fiery sermons and regularly preached and protested against Catholicism, ecumenism and homosexuality. He gained a large group of followers who were referred to as Paisleyites.

Paisley became involved in Ulster unionist/loyalist politics in the late 1950s. In the mid-late 1960s, he led and instigated loyalist opposition to the Catholic civil rights movement in Northern Ireland. This led to the outbreak of the Troubles in the late 1960s, a conflict that would engulf Northern Ireland for the next thirty years. In 1970 he became Member of Parliament for North Antrim and the following year he founded the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which he would lead for almost forty years. In 1979 he became a Member of the European Parliament.

Throughout the Troubles, Paisley was seen as a firebrand and the face of hardline unionism. He opposed all attempts to resolve the conflict through power-sharing between unionists and Irish nationalists/republicans, and all attempts to involve the Republic of Ireland in Northern affairs. His efforts helped bring down the Sunningdale Agreement of 1974. He also opposed the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985, with less success. His attempts to create a paramilitary movement culminated in Ulster Resistance. Paisley and his party also opposed the Northern Ireland peace process and Good Friday Agreement of 1998.