SINN FÉIN Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has attended the funeral of Iris Robinson’s mother at the Bethany Free Presbyterian Church in Portadown, Co Armagh.
Mr McGuinness broke another staunch divisive Northern Ireland convention by joining mourners, who included First Minister Peter Robinson and his wife Iris, for the funeral service for Marie Duffield Malloy (90) who died on Monday.
Mr McGuinness was driven into the church car park about 10 minutes after Mr and Mrs Robinson arrived, causing considerable surprise.
One of the reasons why the Rev Ian Paisley lost his post as head of the Free Presbyterian Church was because he entered into the powersharing Executive and Assembly with Sinn Féin at Stormont.
Considering the previous fundamentalist Protestant church antagonism to Sinn Féin and that this was the first time for Mr McGuinness to enter a Free Presbyterian church, he must have been uncertain about his reception.
But the Deputy First Minister was well received. He and one of his chief aides, Ciarán Quinn, were welcomed by one of the church ushers who shook hands with Mr McGuinness before bringing him into the church. The Rev Kenneth Elliott, who said afterwards that he had not spoken to Mr McGuinness, conducted the service. “But I would have spoken to him if he had spoken to me,” Mr Elliott said. “Everyone who comes to a service here to hear the word of God no matter who they are is welcome.
Mr McGuinness was not available for comment.
Members of the extended Robinson family also attended the funeral and the chief mourners were Mrs Malloy’s children: Ernest, Cecil, Desmond, Robin, Iris and Marlene.
Mr Elliott paid particular tribute to Iris and Peter Robinson and to Marlene and her husband Glyn for the “devoted love and care” they dedicated to Mrs Malloy in the last years of her life.
This was 62-year-old Iris Robinson’s first public appearance since in January last year she was embroiled in a controversy over an affair she had with young businessman Kirk McCambley. Questions surrounding the affair and a £50,000 loan she facilitated for Mr McCambley almost caused the collapse of the Executive and threatened her husband’s position as First Minister and DUP leader.
Mrs Robinson received psychological treatment in London after the controversy broke. She is now back living in the Robinson home in Dundonald in east Belfast.
