PICKING up the phone to call Ian Paisley out of the blue is frightening enough, but to be faced by the bellowing Reverend's mum on the other end of the line is downright scary.

But one partially-sighted Southampton Institute journalism student did that and more by persuading Ulster's top political leaders to take part in his final-year dissertation.

Kevin McLaughlin not only gained access to the hardline man of the cloth and leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, he also spoke to a host of the province's political bosses including SDLP leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner John Hume, Sinn Fein's chief negotiator Martin McGuinness and Ulster Unionist MP Ken Maginnis.

The exclusive interviews - the envy of many professional journalists - were used as part of Kevin's 10,000-word dissertation on the British government's controversial broadcasting ban on paramilitary groups during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The extensive research by the 24-year-old student suggests all sides believe the ban - which saw com-ments from people like Gerry Adams blanked from TV broadcasts - achieved nothing and could have even held back the peace process.

But despite the weightiness of the subject matter, the research had its lighter moments.

"I called up Ian Paisley and his mother answered the phone at the same time as he did," said Kevin. "I could hear him at the other end shouting 'It's alright mammy, I've got the phone'. I had to laugh. It's not some-thing you expect him to say. And when I phoned Ken Maginnis he was in the middle of his tea. You could hear his family munching in the back-ground."

He added: "A lot of the people were difficult to get hold of, but when I did speak to them they were all very helpful."

The quest for his research took Kevin to Stormont Castle where he was in the media throng the day the historic Good Friday peace agreement was signed, and to Downing Street where he witnessed Gerry Adams leading the first official Sinn Fein delegation to No.10.

And his desire to be near the action also got the journalism student into some tight situations - at one point he was caught in the crossfire of bricks and bottles during disturbances at an Apprentice Boys' march in his home-town of Derry.

"I was caught in a buffer zone, with RUC officers, between Protestants and Catholics and it was very frightening. One of the officers I was with got his legs broken and they had to disperse the crowd by firing live rounds," he said.

But despite all this Kevin, currently living in digs at Marlborough Road, Shirley, kept a healthy scepticism of the high-flyers he met. "I have to say even after all this, politicians don't impress me at all. I want to become a political journalist so I think that's a fairly healthy attitude to have."

And being registered blind will not stop him from pursuing his aim of becoming a professional news reporter, he pledged.

"My disability is never going to stop me from being a journalist, because it is always what I wanted to do," he said.

Dan Hogan, leader of the Institute's journalism degree course, said: "Kevin's research project reads like a Who's Who of Ulster politics. For any student to conduct such interviews and research is an astonishing achievement. He is the most determined student I have met. He clearly has a tremendous future ahead of him."

Kevin said he now planned to post his dissertation on his own Internet website - kevin.mclaughlin.net

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