IAN Paisley MP has said he needs to “lie down and recover from the shock” of Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill using the term Northern Ireland.
Ms O’Neill told the assembly last week that she stood ready to “take on the leadership of the Northern Ireland Executive as a first minister for all”.
Sinn Féin sources suggested that this was the first time she said “Northern Ireland” in the assembly, in bid to reach out.
Mr Paisley was unimpressed, however.
“One hundred years to call Northern Ireland its proper name, my goodness, let me please lie down and recover from the shock of that,” he told the BBC.
“I think it’s up to Sinn Féin to explain to people how they think using the proper and official term of the country which inside they live, and which gives them a salary, and which gives them the National Health Service, and which gives them the enjoyment of the liberties that they have – why it is such a big deal for them to use its proper name,” he added.
“I don’t ask for any credit, or any pats on the back, or applause when I call the Republic of Ireland its proper name, but maybe that’s how trivial I should be, that now that I’ve used the proper terminology for my neighbouring state, that I should be awarded and applauded.
“I honestly think that’s quite juvenile by Sinn Féin.”
