Quotes of the day

Votes are being verified and counted on Thursday

BBC News Online takes a look at the quotes of the day as counting begins in the Northern Ireland Assembly vote.

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Newly-elected DUP North Belfast MLA Nigel Dodds
The DUP has got well over two quotas in North Belfast and we are going to gain a seat for certain. I got 9,276 and the next was Sinn Fein with 5,500. It has been a tremendous result for the DUP in North Belfast and in West Belfast we have polled exceptionally well through Diane (Dodds).

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Newly-elected Sinn Fein North Belfast MLA Gerry Kelly
We said we were on an agenda of change - today shows that people are accepting that agenda of change and that type of leadership. This nonsense that the DUP would not talk to anyone and there would be renegotiation (of the Agreement) flies in the face of reality. Our hand has been strengthened already and the signs are there that right across the north it will be strengthened.

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DUP leader Ian Paisley
It is a great day for Ulster. The all important people are the people who have a bit of paper and a pencil. I have travelled 3,600 miles across Northern Ireland - not by air, but by road, and I think that is a fairly good record.

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Newly-elected Ulster Unionist MLA for South Belfast Michael McGimpsey
This is a very good result for the UUP. Our vote overall in South Belfast is up by 8%. So those people who were predicting the demise of the Ulster Unionist Party - the end of the UUP as the lead party in unionism - were talking nonsense.

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NI Secretary of State Paul Murphy
We came to a stage where we had to have momentum in this peace process. We had to give the people of Northern Ireland the opportunity to have their wishes known. Obviously we won't have restoration immediately. I am going to have to talk to all of the political parties and their leaders in this new assembly as to how it can be that not only will we have an assembly, but we can have a government and an executive of Northern Ireland as well.

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Newly-elected UUP Antrim South MLA David Burnside
The lack of voting between the unionist parties is disgraceful, absolutely disgraceful - both directions. Although there are more votes coming from Ulster Unionist candidates to other pro-Union candidates - as I recommended in the constituency - I find the lack of voting coming from our fellow unionists - the DUP - to other unionist colleagues disgraceful.

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SDLP leader and Foyle MLA Mark Durkan
I am confident we will hold our three seats in Foyle comfortably enough. The lower turn-out in some places had a bigger impact on us than other parties. Clearly we have more work to do, as we always we had. We need to have more people in our organisation and we need more resources.

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Former Sinn Fein publicity director Danny Morrison
It is quite obvious that given that most of the old SDLP leadership have retired from the race, that Sinn Fein is certainly going to outpoll the SDLP and get a greater number of seats.

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SDLP director of elections Brid Rodgers
It does appear that Sinn Fein have polled very well in many constituencies... as regards the old leadership retiring, I have to remind people that the SDLP have always been the catalyst of change in this community.

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Lord Kilclooney, Strangford UUP candidate
It is certainly correct that the 'united Ireland vote' is up - whether it is because of SDLP or Sinn Fein, because they voted at a higher percentage. The unionist vote - DUP, UUP and others - is down because in the unionist areas a large number didn't bother to vote.

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Former DUP press officer StClair McAllister
The low turn-out traditionally indicates that the DUP would do well and Sinn Fein... we had bad weather - that is a factor - and it indicates that people were not listening to the prime minister and his appeal. They were not listening to David Trimble and his appeal, or the SDLP, for people to come out in vast numbers and vote.

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Lagan Valley UUP candidate, Jeffrey Donaldson
The picture is looking very good. I am going to top the poll in Lagan Valley with a very strong vote. There is a very strong anti-Agreement vote in Lagan Valley... a lot of people on the doorsteps said they wanted to protest. They were not happy with the Agreement and they were not happy with the way things were going and with what Sinn Fein was doing.

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