DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, is expected to visit the family of murdered
Catholic schoolboy, Michael McIlveen, in Ballymena's staunchly nationalist
Dunclug Estate, before the teenager's funeral.
Senior DUP sources said Paisley, the local MP, would have "absolutely no
problem" attending the funeral except that it's likely to be held tomorrow
or Tuesday when the Stormont Assembly is in session after its four-year
suspension.
The sources strongly rejected accusations that Paisley's political and
religious beliefs prevented him attending a Catholic's funeral. He has been
invited by the McIlveen family.
Michael, 15, died after a brutal beating by loyalists last weekend. Paisley
knows the family because he helped get then rehoused in Ballymena after they
were ordered out of Antrim's Rathenraw Estate by the IRA several years ago.
A senior DUP source told the Sunday Tribune: "Ian's heart goes out to the
McIlveens. He has prayed with them on the phone and wants to visit them but
in a private and dignified manner, not amidst a media frenzy.
"He would also like to attend the funeral but, as leader of the largest
party in the Assembly, it would be hard for him to leave Stormont on Monday
and Tuesday.
"Ian wouldn't take part in a Mass but visiting the home of a bereaved
Catholic family or walking in the cortege is completely different. Ian has
attended Catholic funerals before. He was at the funeral of a Catholic
police sergeant."
Paisley has been previously criticised for not attending the funerals of
Catholics murdered by loyalists, including the funeral of the three Quinn
children in 1998.
But Michael McIlveen's uncle Francis paid tribute to Paisley's contact with
his family: "He was the first one to ring me at the hospital He has a right
to be there (at the funeral)".
DUP MP, Gregory Campbell, has already visited the McIlveens'. Campbell said:
"I received a good reception. Mrs McIlveen was overwhelmed by grief. It was
as if she'd been crying for so long she was drained of all emotion.
"When a child has died, there are usually stories in the wake house of the
things they got up to. There was nothing like that.
"Here was a woman who has taken everything thrown at her and is now empty. I
told Mrs McIlveen I didn't know what to say or do to help. I felt for her so
very much." A minute's silence will be held for Michael at Stormont
tomorrow.
