The new Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Dr Russell Birney, last night welcomed Mr Alex Maskey of Sinn Féin to the opening session of the church's annual General Assembly in Belfast.
"I think it is a very good thing for Northern Ireland that the Lord Mayor [of Belfast] has chosen to attend, that he's not laying down any conditions whatever, he knows exactly what he's coming to," Dr Birney said.
"We have been working consistently for the day when we can dialogue with each other, when we can talk with all people, and I think Alex Maskey is taking a risk as well in coming to the Assembly tonight, because he knows exactly who we are, but I think he'll find a welcome here.
"He'll not find hostility because that's not our way of doing things."
The outgoing Moderator, Dr Alastair Dunlop, also welcomed Mr Maskey, saying: "The first citizen of Belfast, although he is Sinn Féin and not many Presbyterians would necessarily vote for his party, nonetheless I think it is right and proper, in a Christian setting, that we should welcome the chief citizen of Belfast. I can understand that there would be people who would object to that, but this is a Christian assembly, and we are in the business of trying to understand each other, to dialogue with each other."
The Rev Ian Paisley condemned the decision. "It is unbelievable that he [Mr Maskey] is to be received by Irish Presbyterianism as if he was not stained with the blood of the innocents. There is absolutely no excuse for this act of the General Assembly in seeking to give a cover to such as Maskey," he said. Some 1,200 delegates from all over Ireland are attending the Assembly, which opened at Church House in Belfast last night and will continue until Friday.
