ARGUABLY the most famous Irish political speech in living memory was delivered four decades ago yesterday, when Ian Paisley roared “never, never, never” in front of a massive crowd at a rally outside Belfast City Hall.

There can be no doubt about the power of his oratory, and the impact it had on his audience, but it is equally clear that Paisley’s address proved an entirely unreliable guide to both the future direction of unionism in general and his own career in particular.

The signing of the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement (AIA), as analysis in these pages has reflected over recent weeks, was a major development which was designed to introduce closer cooperation on security and other northern issues between Dublin and London during a prolonged period of intense and appalling violence.

It provided the Irish administration with an advisory role in the north through an intergovernmental conference, and also confirmed that the border would remain in place unless a majority decided otherwise.

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