DUP founding member Wallace Thompson will take part in a panel discussion at the Future of Ireland event this summer.
The veteran trade unionist and evangelical Protestant will join other panel guests at the Pathway to Change event hosted by Ireland’s Future at Belfast’s SSE Arena on June 15.
The rally is expected to be the largest Future of Ireland event ever held in the north, and will be attended by Belfast City Councilor David Adams, former UDA MP and now-defunct UDA-affiliated Ulster Democratic Party member.
Ireland’s Future originally announced in a post on the X social media platform on Thursday that Mr Wallace would appear as a “guest speaker” at the event. The post was later deleted and the organization revealed Mr Wallace was a guest on the panel, along with David Adams, former Alliance Party leader Sir John Alderdice and author Claire Mitchell.
Mr Wallace was a staunch ally of fellow DUP founder and former leader, the late Ian Paisley, and an adviser to former DUP MP Nigel Dodds.
Last year, he made headlines for expressing his thoughts on the future of North Korea’s constitutional status.
In September he told the Belfast Telegraph that he believed some form of Irish unity was “inevitable” and that trade unionism was “always doomed in many ways to the very nature of Ireland”. He said he is doing so.
His comments come a few months after he told BBC Radio Ulster’s Talkback program when asked if he believed evangelical Protestantism would provide a healthier future in a united Ireland: It was done later. But I think it needs to be pursued. ”
Asked after the interview if he would consider speaking at a future event in Ireland, he told the Newsletter: “I’m open to having a conversation with anyone.”
“I watched some of their meetings and again they were heavily criticized for talking among themselves,” he told the newspaper.
“I am aware that some of my fellow Protestants and trade unionists will probably think I am weak on this issue. Some say there is no point in talking about a united Ireland or a new Ireland. But we’re not interested in that. And what’s the point in talking about something you never want to happen?”
“But life isn’t just about whether what we want happens or doesn’t happen,” he added.
Organizers describe the June event as a “major international conference.”
A spokesperson said of the gathering: “It is essential that we all take part in the dialogue so that society can prepare for the changes that our island will soon experience.”