The DUP now has an opportunity to attract unionists who would never have voted for Paisley, writes David Adams.
THE WEALTH of glowing tributes paid to Ian Paisley last week got me thinking about a funeral service that I attended a few years ago.
Not knowing the deceased for the complete reprobate that he had been, the vicar was going overboard in his praise, even talking at one point about "this good Christian man".
It all became too much for a boyhood friend who leaned over to me and whispered, "Davy, are you sure we're at the right funeral? For whoever he's talking about, it certainly isn't the b****rd we knew."
Quite so, but at least the vicar could claim unfamiliarity in his defence.
Which is more than can be said for the wilfully amnesic who were tripping over themselves last week to laud the "courage", "honour" and "sincerity" of "peacemaker" Ian Paisley.
Listening to it all, and reflecting on the Paisley they knew for over four decades, most people in Northern Ireland must have wondered, just like my friend, if they had stumbled upon the wrong political "funeral".
When DUP MLA and MP Gregory Campbell solemnly declared, "We'll never see the likes of Ian Paisley again in our lifetime", reasonable people everywhere could only have thought, "I hope to God you're right".
But, enough about the past.
Of importance now is the effect Paisley's retirement will have on the DUP and unionism in general, and on the powersharing executive at Stormont.
Provided there is no party-splitting battle for succession, and the chances of that happening are virtually non-existent, then the post-Paisley DUP will gain immeasurably.
For years, under the careful stewardship of Peter Robinson, the party has been moving gradually to the centre-ground of unionism, but Paisley at the helm acted as a glass ceiling.
Regardless of his belated rebirth as a peacemaker, many unionists cannot associate him with anything other than trouble making and extremism.
They wouldn't countenance voting for his party, never mind joining it.
With him gone, all of that will change.
Given how Paisley haunted its leaders down through the decades, it is ironic that the Ulster Unionist Party will suffer badly, perhaps terminally, from his departure.
With its electoral strength waning and having no clearly defined role, as well as lacking in talent or big personalities, the UUP is already on the ropes.
Things can only get worse post-Paisley, when the UUP's traditional support base of middle-income, moderate professionals no longer see any reason not to support a vibrant DUP that has come to reflect their position.
Neither is there any real threat to the DUP from what remains of anti-agreement unionism.
MEP Jim Allister's Traditional Unionist Voice attracted a credible vote in a recent council byelection in Dromore, but it was a cheap lesson that only served to help the DUP.
Better to lose a relatively unimportant mid-term contest, with plenty of time left to adjust, than shed votes when it really matters.
Indeed, the DUP has already begun to trim its sails to better suit the unionist mood.
The possible implications of the Dromore result were probably exaggerated by sections of the party, thereby helping hasten Ian Paisley's resignation and ending the "Chuckle Brothers" era that ordinary unionists found discomfiting.
Despite what Gerry Adams has been intimating, there is no danger to the Executive from anyone within the DUP.
In fact, it seems more likely that Sinn Féin itself is under some pressure internally and from its grassroots.
Whenever republicans are feeling the strain, their first instinct is to try to settle nerves by shifting the focus and rattling unionists.
This was the likely reasoning behind the recent ardfheis declaration of a concerted push for a united Ireland, and attempts to hold a commemoration event at Stormont for deceased IRA member Maireád Farrell.
Likewise, Adams's mischievous and wholly unfounded warnings to the DUP about picking sham fights with Sinn Féin, and republican talk of instability if policing and justice is not devolved by the St Andrews Agreement deadline of May.
It is instructive to note how calmly the DUP and broad unionism have reacted to Sinn Féin's antics.
There was a time when they would have been up in arms, but not any more.
Unionists are now far more relaxed about the Assembly and the Executive: and little wonder.
The DUP has Stormont sewn up, and both the unionist and republican electorates know it - in the latter case, to the obvious unease of Sinn Féin.
Never mind any extra talent the DUP will be able to attract after Paisley goes, the breadth and depth of talent they already have leaves other parties in the shade.
Highly intelligent, consummate politicians like Peter Robinson, Nigel Dodds, Jeffrey Donaldson and Arlene Foster have taken to government like ducks to water.
They are ably assisted by a DUP "second-string" that includes Gregory Campbell, Sammy Wilson, Iris Robinson and Edwin Poots, not to mention numerous "bright young things" that beaver away in the background on strategy and policy.
The DUP's performance at Stormont, where they operate on a basis of principled pragmatism, has brought a new found confidence to unionism.
Paisley's departure will enhance the party further.