The deputy leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, Mr John Taylor, said yesterday he never considered Ms Mary McAleese to be a supporter of Sinn Fein. In an interview in the RTE radio programme, This Week, he said Ms Brid Rodgers's views were not supported by most SDLP supporters in the North.
He said he was surprised to see some members of the SDLP accusing her of supporting Sinn Fein. "But I do not believe that those members of the SDLP are representative of the SDLP throughout Northern Ireland. I think they are a minority." Mr Taylor said Ms McAleese was totally different from the majority of people in the North. "She is an out-and-out nationalist, very, very green nationalist and promotes her Catholicism too much. She overdoes it. "But having said that, and pointing out how different she is from me, as a Protestant and a British citizen here in Northern Ireland, she was a most able person. She steered the new campus in Armagh in an excellent and efficient way and although we disagree in politics and religion I found her quite easy to work with."