THE Democratic Unionist Party, the party which claims to have given "a voice to the voiceless" among unionist people, marked its 25th anniversary yesterday with a call from its leader and Co founder, the Rev Ian Paisley, for another 25 years of single minded struggle.
In a statement to highlight the DUP's first quarter century, Dr Paisley claimed his party had changed the face of unionism and saved the Union from disaster.
The 70 year old party leader, said that for too long the UUP had misrepresented the unionist people. "It used and abused them for selfish gain. It used them like a ladder, to climb for personal advantage, and then kick away when it suited," he said.
The formation of the DUP on October 30th, 1971, he asserted, had "smashed forever the unjust grip Official Unionism had on the unionist people".
Under Official Unionism, he claimed, "every constituency was in disrepair. Those of privilege had a lifestyle far beyond that of the average man and woman. That safeguarded privilege did not help unionism, it crippled it. It brought Dublin's prime minister to Stormont, handing to him a role in our internal affairs."
His statement added: "Just think what a mess Ulster would be in if there had never been a DUP to act as a bulwark for the protection of the Union ... Ulster would be gone, the Union would have ended and we would be in a poverty stricken Irish republic with some unionists telling us what wonderful rights they have as a minority in an Irish parliament."
He said that the IRA wanted to ethnically cleanse Ulster of its Protestant and Unionist people, but the DUP had turned the tide on militant republicanism and intended to go on turning that tide. "We are called upon to defend the Union, to save our heritage and keep Ulster British," he continued. "No murdering republican, no murder endorsing nationalist must be permitted to divert us off course.
Dr Paisley claimed the DUP had been the first to question inadequate policy and mismanagement. "The DUP are alarmed at the levels of poverty that this government is prepared to permit. Anyone who defends this government are defending a government which has inflicted not only political treachery but social misery on the people."
Yesterday was the anniversary of the first meeting of the DUP in the Ulster Hall in Belfast. The party which took the place of the Protestant Unionist Party, was set up by Dr Paisley with Mr Desmond Boal, the then Shankill MP.
The main celebrations of the anniversary will take place at the party's annual conference at the end of November.
Dr Paisley was asked in a UTV interview last night if the DUP been designed to be exclusively Protestant. He replied: "No. There are actually Roman Catholic members of the Democratic Unionist Party."
He went on to claim that members of the Catholic community had regularly "lined up" at his constituency surgeries. "Even Roman Catholic priests have said to their people: `Look, you go and see the Big Man and he will fight your case'."
Asked if the DUP could continue to exist after him, Dr Paisley said: "When this Old Moses dies there'll be a Young Joshua to lead them into the Promised Land."
He refused to speculate on who his successor might be: "It's not for me to say who it will be - the Lord alone knows."