Good Friday Agreement fanfare: Ian Paisley slams Queen's conference and Biden visit alike after 'hostility' to DUP

Mr Paisley said the event should serve as a “wake-up call” for unionists about the need to band together because “the enemy is at the gates”, as he also rubbished Joe Biden’s visit the week before as merely a vote-harvesting exercise for the 80-year-old as he prepares for another run at the US presidency.

Meanwhile UUP peer Sir Reg Empey took a more upbeat view, saying that the conference was the result of a “gargantuan effort on the part of the university” and had drawn “such a worldwide audience you couldn't possibly dismiss it”.

Over three days, all manner of world leaders and ex-statesmen joined local politicians for a series of speeches and panel debates at the south Belfast campus, with the final day seeing contributions from the Secretary General of the UN, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Bill and Hillary Clinton, EU leaders Ursula von der Leyen and Maros Sefcovic, the Irish taoiseach, and more.

Later on Wednesday many of these delegates joined members of the UUP and UUP – as well as former PMs Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Tony Blair, and ex-NI Secretary Theresa Villiers, and a host of others – for a banquet at Hillsborough Castle to round off the events.

Mr Paisley, in an online article written for The Centre for the Union, said: “In any analysis of Northern Ireland the DUP is a significant voice and opinion.

"Yet to listen to the overwhelming majority of participants and the audience at this three day agreement-fest you would think the province was a one dimensional place heading joyously towards a United Ireland.

"That is not reality and that bubble really needs to burst if nationalists and unionists are to come to terms with the future…

"Only three DUP representatives were at the conference to fight that corner and to make the case for unionism.

"We were right not to concede the ground but to do so in the knowledge that a large section of the audience was deaf to reality and only wanted the cosy dreamland of their own predictions.”

He added that the DUP trio at the conference had been “met with hostility” and “took the bricks of an audience who claimed to believe in reconciliation but can’t reconcile themselves to a different perspective”.

• DUP member Emma Little-Pengelly faces tough time from rivals and audience on five-person Good Friday Agreement panel

He ended by saying: “This is the time for unionism to get its act together. To stop the salami-slicing of its mandate to vanity choices, and to unite and be one large bulwark to once again declare its strength and purpose.”

Asked by the News Letter whether he was speaking of a single unionist party (with DUP and UUP together) Mr Paisley replied: “Unionists have to pull themselves out of the slumber, and realise that the enemy is at the gates, and that this week has been about a prep for a United ireland campaign.”

As to what the global community thinks of the anniversary, he said: “I don’t think anyone across the world is frankly listening.

"Today His Majesty’s Government has already moved on, and let’s face it, Biden’s visit was about Irish-American votes not about anything else.

"This week has been about winding up nationalists to fight for a United Ireland.”

Sir Reg meanwhile said that it was worth recognising that “any other small region of two million people wouldn't get a tenth of the coverage this place has got”.

"It was a big deal and I don't think we'll ever see the like of it again,” he said.

"I think we've got to be realistic and say the question now is how can we exploit the situation to the advantage – economically, primarily – of our community.”

He said that Sir Jeffrey Donaldson’s recent dismissal of those at the conference belonging to a “bubble” was “probably harsh” because “we're all in a bubble".

Lord Empey added that, since Stormont is in limbo, “I regarded it as a commemoration not a celebration”.

He also had sharp words for the DUP, saying “the people roaring and shouting today about the Protocol are the same people who ran us into it in terms of an ill-thought through Brexit”.

As for the 1998 agreement itself, “it has endured” he said, adding: “I just would make the point that despite the fact they [the DUP] all either walked out or fought against it, they all have had to face up to the fact that – whether they like it or not – it's probably the only show in town.”

More from this reporter:

• Chris Heaton-Harris' praise for Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness is insulting to victims says Ann Travers