The visit of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to Ballymena yesterday morning and their mutual commitment to boost tourism was a "good day for the whole of Ireland", according to the North's First Minister the Rev Ian Paisley.
Dr Paisley and Mr Ahern jointly "relaunched" the Galgorm Resort and Spa on the outskirts of Ballymena, which has been refurbished at a cost of £17 million.
Dr Paisley issued a hearty welcome to the Taoiseach after his Aer Corps helicopter landed at the hotel which is in the First Minister's North Antrim constituency.
Dr Paisley said that he never thought he would welcome the Taoiseach to his heartland, joking that "he is here under my control, so there is some hope for me".
"This is a good day for work, a good day for our province, it is a good day for the whole of Ireland because we need help from outside," he said. "We cannot live on our own. This is a world that is moving faster and faster and we must catch up with the speed and get into the march."
Dr Paisley said he and Mr Ahern had a "mutual drive in our hearts" to work for the benefit of all.
Mr Ahern said even a year ago it could not have been envisaged that he and Dr Paisley would be together in Ballymena. He said "standing side by side shows the progress we have made and the progress we will make".
"The more tourists we bring to this island the more employment we will achieve, the more investment that we will succeed in bringing," he said. "There is probably no better source of employment than good-quality tourism. To be here on the banks of the Maine river is a good example of how working in co-operation we can bring together more activity, we can generate more resources and give more of our people good careers and good work.
"Guaranteeing investment and employment is a goal and objective we share and I do not think there is any sector of an economy that cannot grow and gain added value through co-operation. That is what we intend to do," he said.
There was advance publicity about the visit but just one man protested outside the hotel yesterday. Roy Gillespie, an alder- man on Ballymena Council, who resigned from the DUP in protest at Dr Paisley's decision to share power with Sinn Féin, accused the First Minister of "selling out" Northern Ireland.
Mr Gillespie said his political allegiance was now to the Traditional Unionist Voice, which is led by MEP Jim Allister who resigned from the DUP in protest at the DUP/Sinn Féin powersharing deal of last May.
Mr Allister, who was not in Ballymena, said the "spectacle at Galgorm is yet another manifestation of the dramatic intensification in North/Southery which is occurring under devolution".
Mr Gillespie's wife, Ruby, managed to access the hotel where she complained directly to Baroness Eileen Paisley about her husband welcoming Mr Ahern to Ballymena.
"My heart is broken. I never thought that I would live to see the day when the man I followed for 40 years would bring this foreign minister here," she said.
