Ian Paisley

The Reverend and Right Honourable The Lord Bannside PC
Paisley in 2008
First Minister of Northern Ireland
In office 8 May 2007 – 5 June 2008 Serving with Martin McGuinness
Preceded by	Peter Hain[a] (as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland) David Trimble (2002)
Succeeded by	Peter Robinson
Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party
In office 30 September 1971 – 31 May 2008
Deputy	William Beattie Peter Robinson
Preceded by	Party established
Succeeded by	Peter Robinson
Parliamentary offices Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal Life peerage 5 July 2010 – 12 September 2014 Member of the Legislative Assembly for North Antrim In office 25 June 1998 – 25 March 2011 Preceded by Constituency established Succeeded by David McIlveen In office 20 October 1982 – 1986 Preceded by Assembly re-established Succeeded by Assembly dissolved In office 28 June 1973 – 1974 Preceded by Assembly created Succeeded by Assembly abolished Member of Parliament for North Antrim In office 18 June 1970 – 12 April 2010 Preceded by Henry Clark Succeeded by Ian Paisley Jr Member of the European Parliament for Northern Ireland In office 7 June 1979 – 10 June 2004 Preceded by Constituency established Succeeded by Jim Allister Member of the Northern Ireland Forum for North Antrim In office 30 May 1996 – 25 April 1998 Preceded by Forum established Succeeded by Forum dissolved Member of the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention for North Antrim In office 1 May 1975 – 1976 Preceded by Convention founded Succeeded by Convention dissolved Member of the Northern Ireland Parliament for Bannside In office 16 April 1970 – 18 July 1973 Preceded by Terence O'Neill Succeeded by Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	Ian Richard Kyle Paisley (1926-04-06)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	DUP (1971–2014)
Other political affiliations	PUP (1966–1971)
Spouse	Eileen Cassells ​ (m. 1956)​
Children	5, including Rhonda and Ian Jr
Alma mater	Barry School of Evangelism
Occupation	Evangelist politician political activist
Profession	Minister
Website	Official website
a. ^ During the periods of suspension of the Northern Ireland Executive, the Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland assumed the responsibilities of the First Minister and deputy First Minister. The final Northern Ireland Secretary to act as First Minister was Peter Hain.

Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, PC (6 April 1926 – 12 September 2014) was a loyalist politician and Protestant religious leader from Northern Ireland who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 1971 to 2008 and First Minister of Northern Ireland from 2007 to 2008.

Paisley became a Protestant evangelical minister in 1946 and remained one for the rest of his life. In 1951 he co-founded the Reformed fundamentalist Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster and was its leader until 2008. Paisley became known for his fiery sermons and regularly preached anti-Catholicism, anti-ecumenism and against 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 contributed to the outbreak of the Troubles in the late 1960s, a conflict that would engulf Northern Ireland for the next 30 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 40 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 Irish 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.

In 2005, Paisley's DUP became the largest unionist party in Northern Ireland, displacing the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), which had dominated unionist politics since 1905 and had been an instrumental party in the Good Friday Agreement. In 2007, following the St Andrews Agreement, the DUP finally agreed to share power with republican party Sinn Féin. Paisley and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness became First Minister and deputy First Minister, respectively, in May 2007. He stepped down as First Minister and DUP leader in mid-2008,^[1][2] and left politics in 2011. Paisley was made a life peer in 2010 as Baron Bannside.^[3]