Word: irelands
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...revelation followed a series of other disclosures about the Robinsons' private lives over the past couple of weeks. On Dec. 28, Iris Robinson, who serves in both the British Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly, announced that she would be ending her 20-year political career, saying she had been suffering from "serious bouts of depression." Then, on Jan. 6, a handful of television journalists were invited to meet Peter Robinson at his home outside Belfast. Robinson, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Northern Ireland's largest political party, is known for his clinical, dispassionate public image. As the cameras...
...news has stunned Northern Ireland, a staunchly conservative society in which many politicians, particularly those in Protestant-backed unionist parties, see themselves as unofficial guardians of public morality. The Robinsons - who are practicing Evangelical Christians - were certainly no exception...
...blood of Christ, so can a homosexual." Gay-rights activists accused her of inciting hatred, and scores of complaints were lodged with the police. According to the Spotlight report, Robinson's relationship with McCambley started before those comments were made. (See pictures of the British army leaving Northern Ireland...
...Although Evangelical influence over the DUP has waned in recent years, Evangelical congregations - particularly those in rural Northern Ireland - still form the backbone of the party founded by the Rev. Ian Paisley in 1971. The couple's standing among these devout members is now likely to deteriorate. "The Robinson affair will be difficult for core DUP supporters," says Gladys Ganiel, a lecturer at Trinity College Dublin and author of a book on Evangelicalism in Northern Ireland. "It certainly doesn't hurt to talk about your faith in public in Northern Ireland politics, and no one has done that more than...
...disclosures come at a delicate time for Northern Ireland's fragile power-sharing government of Catholic and Protestant parties. Peter Robinson and his Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness of the Sinn Fein party, have failed to reach an agreement over the devolution of policing and justice powers from London to Northern Ireland, despite months of negotiations. Catholic republicans have for years accused the British-run law-and-order system of having a pro-Protestant bias, while Protestant unionists have been reluctant to alter the current setup. The impasse has added to the public's frustration over a perceived lack...