 In September 2004, he agreed to meet Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, in his political capacity as leader of the DUP.At an early meeting with Ahern at the Irish embassy in London, he requested breakfast and asked for boiled eggs; when Ahern asked him why he had wanted boiled eggs, he quipped "it would be hard for you to poison them".Following rumours and a marked change in his appearance, it was confirmed in July 2004 that Paisley had been undergoing tests for an undisclosed illness, and in 2005 Ian Paisley Jr. confirmed that his father had been gravely ill. Paisley himself later said that he had "walked in death's shadow."