Before last night's Justice debate in the Commons wound to its inevitable conclusion, we were treated to a couple of "farewell" speeches.
One came from the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee chair, Sir Patrick Cormack. He paid tribute to the "courageous persistence, at a time of great personal difficulty, of the current First Minister" and criticised the UUP for what he called "a short-sighted and mistaken decision" to oppose the transfer of powers.
Next came Ian Paisley Senior who was in the mellow mood which has now become characteristic of the former tub thumper. He talked about people in Northern Ireland learning to live together as good neighbours, a sentiment he illustrated with this anecdote from his childhood holidays in South Down: "I played with the boys in Killowen, who were strong republicans and strong Roman Catholics, and I was just as strong a Unionist and a Protestant. However, they came with me to the 12 July demonstration, and I went with them to the Warrenpoint Hibernian demonstration. In fact, the Hibernian people got into trouble just before their demonstration. On the night before, one of their drums gave way. They had no drum, so they came down to the Orange hall and got an Orange drum on loan. They also got a sheet, which they covered up and on which they roughly painted their Hibernian slogan. However, as they were going through Warrenpoint the next day, the sheet came off, and all that could be seen was "To the immortal memory of King William III" and "No surrender!" Everybody laughed; nobody got up and said, "This can't be." There was a general mood of good will."
The outgoing North Antrim MP also looked forward to a day when the troubles might be forgotten - when he first mentioned this I thought he might be on dangerous ground so far as those who would argue we must never forget are concerned. But he voiced the sentiment with a couple of caveats as follows: "I am confident that, with the good friendship in this House towards Northern Ireland, we will come to a day--although I may not live to see it--when these troubles will be forgotten. We will not forget, of course, the price that was paid or the loyalty of those who stood against assassins, but we will forget the awfulness of the days that we have come through. As we move forward, we shall see prosperity in our land. A working people live at peace."
Although both MPs billed last night's addresses as their last speeches, I suppose it's possible they may yet make contributions during Northern Ireland questions on Wednesdays.
One last aside - when I heard Ian Paisley's remark about not living to see the day, I couldn't help thinking of the joke Bill Clinton made about his heart condition at a Washington dinner on Saturday night. Talking about the chances of Congress approving President Obama's health care package, the former President quipped "It may not happen in my lifetime, or Dick Cheney's, but hopefully by Easter."
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