Reacting to Mr Paisley’s comments Jim Allister said:
“In public life we all have things written about us with which we disagree. That comes with the job. Furthermore, public representatives have a right to respond to criticism or commentary in a factual manner.
“What I do not believe we have the right to do is to launch a tirade of abuse against an individual including the journalist’s family and even his school. It also does nothing for Mr Paisley’s case and credibility to attack Sam McBride as an “intellectually weak and a simplistic fellow.” This is something which anyone with even a passing knowledge of Sam and his work will dismiss immediately.
“To bring Christianity into his tirade of abuse makes Mr Paisley sound all the more hollow.”