Paisley will not seek re-election as MEP

DUP leader Ian Paisley has announced that he is to step down as a member of the European Parliament this June.

The poll-topping 77-year-old Euro MP has said that he will not seek re-election and will step down prior to this year's election. The DUP leader's decision will end his, occasionally controversial, 25-year stint as an MEP.

In 1988, Rev Paisley was excluded from a sitting of the European Parliament when he interrupted an address by Pope John Paul II. Refusing to be silent, he was excluded from the house by the speaker.

Confirming that he was standing down, Rev Paisley said that he intended to devote his energy to the Northern Ireland political situation and sought to counter accusations that his party was not serious about the Northern Ireland review talks.

Rev Paisley said: "I am going to be here in Northern Ireland. I am going to be in every one of these talks - Bertie Ahern will get away with nothing."

The DUP's position was recently bolstered by the addition of three former UUP MLAs. Westminster MP Jeffery Donaldson, and two freshly elected MLAs, Norah Beare and Arlene Foster joined the DUP giving the anti-Agreement Unionist party 33 seats in the suspended Stormont Assembly, which is to enter a review process on February 3.

No candidate has yet been named for the MEP seat, though it is sure to be contended by the DUP.

Westminster MP Nigel Dodds, who has assisted Rev Paisley's work in the European political arena in Strasbourg, is considered to be one of the frontrunners.

(SP)