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Gerry Adams

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Gerard Adams (Template:Langx;<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} Sinn Féin press release, 26 January 2004.</ref> born 6 October 1948) is a retired Irish Republican politician who was the president of Sinn Féin between 13 November 1983 and 10 February 2018, and served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Louth from 2011 to 2020.<ref name="oireachtas_db">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="elecs_irl">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he won election as a Member of Parliament (MP) of the UK Parliament for the Belfast West constituency, but followed the Sinn Féin policy of abstentionism.

Adams first became involved in Irish republicanism in the late 1960s, and was an established figure in Irish activism for more than a decade before his 1983 election to Parliament. In 1984, Adams was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> From the late 1980s onwards, he was an important figure in the Northern Ireland peace process, entering into talks initially with Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader John Hume and then subsequently with the Irish and British governments.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1986, he convinced Sinn Féin to change its traditional policy of abstentionism towards the Oireachtas, the parliament of the Republic of Ireland. In 1998, it also took seats in the power-sharing Northern Ireland Assembly. In 2005, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) stated that its armed campaign was over and that it was exclusively committed to peaceful politics.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Adams has often been accused of being a member of the IRA leadership in the 1970s and 1980s, though he consistently denied any involvement in the organisation. In 2014, he was held for four days by the Police Service of Northern Ireland for questioning in connection with the 1972 abduction and murder of Jean McConville.<ref>Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams held over Jean McConville murder Template:Webarchive, BBC News. Retrieved 30 April 2014.</ref><ref>Gerry Adams remains in custody over McConville murder Template:Webarchive, BBC News, 1 May 2014.</ref> He was released without charge and a file was sent to the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland,<ref name="bbc.com">Template:Cite news</ref> which later stated there was insufficient evidence to charge him.<ref>"Jean McConville murder: Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams will not face Disappeared charges" Template:Webarchive. BBC News, 29 September 2015.</ref><ref name="BBC-Insuff01" /><ref name="Mirror-Insuff01" /> Adams announced in November 2017 that he would step down as leader of Sinn Féin in 2018, and that he would not stand for re-election to his seat in Dáil Éireann in 2020.<ref name="Retirement">Template:Cite news</ref> He was succeeded by Mary Lou McDonald at a special ardfheis (party conference) on 10 February 2018.<ref name="IrishTimes2018-01-20a">Template:Cite news</ref>

Early lifeEdit

Adams was born in the Ballymurphy district of Belfast on 6 October 1948.<ref name="bbcadams">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="eb">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His parents, Anne (née Hannaway) and Gerry Adams Sr., came from republican backgrounds.<ref name="eb" /> His grandfather, also named Gerry Adams, was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) during the Irish War of Independence. Two of his uncles, Dominic and Patrick Adams, had been interned by the governments in Belfast and Dublin.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In J. Bowyer Bell's book The Secret Army,<ref>J. Bowyer Bell, The Secret Army: The IRA 1916 (Irish Academy Press).</ref> Bell states that Dominic was a senior figure in the Irish Republican Army (IRA) of the mid-1940s. Gerry Adams Sr. joined the IRA at age 16. In 1972, he participated in an IRA ambush on a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) patrol but was shot, arrested and sentenced to eight years' imprisonment.<ref name="bbcadams" /> Adams's maternal great-grandfather, Michael Hannaway, was also a member of the IRB during its bombing campaign in England in the 1860s and 1870s.Template:Sfn Michael's son, Billy, was election agent for Éamon de Valera at the 1918 Irish general election in West Belfast.

Adams attended St Finian's Primary School on Falls Road, where he was taught by La Salle brothers. Having passed the eleven-plus exam in 1960, he attended St Mary's Christian Brothers Grammar School. He left St Mary's with six O-levels and worked in bars.

Early political careerEdit

File:Gerry Adams Easter Lily Badge.jpg
Adams wearing an Easter Lily (2008)

In the late 1960s, a civil rights campaign developed in Northern Ireland. After being radicalised by the Divis Street riots during the 1964 United Kingdom general election campaign, Adams joined Sinn Féin and Fianna Éireann.<ref name="EI">Template:Cite book</ref> Adams was an active supporter and joined the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association in 1967.<ref name="EI" /> The civil rights movement was met with violence from loyalist counter-demonstrations and the RUC, and British troops were called in at the request of the Government of Northern Ireland.

Adams was active in rioting at this time and later became involved in the republican movement. In August 1971, internment was reintroduced to Northern Ireland under the Special Powers Act 1922. Adams was captured by British soldiers in March 1972 and in a Belfast Telegraph report on Adams' capture he was said to be "one of the most wanted men in Belfast".<ref>"Troops catch three top Provisionals", The Belfast Telegraph, 14 March 1972.</ref><ref>"Detained trio named", The Belfast Telegraph, 15 March 1972.</ref> Adams was interned on Template:HMS, but on the Provisional IRA's insistence was released in June to take part in secret, but abortive talks in London.<ref name="EI" /> The IRA negotiated a short-lived truce with the British government and an IRA delegation met with British Home Secretary William Whitelaw at Cheyne Walk in Chelsea. The delegation included Adams, Martin McGuinness, Sean Mac Stiofain (IRA Chief of Staff), Daithi O'Conaill, Seamus Twomey, Ivor Bell and Dublin solicitor Myles Shevlin.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Adams was re-arrested in July 1973 and interned at the Maze prison. After taking part in an IRA-organised escape attempt, he was sentenced to a period of imprisonment. During this time, he wrote articles in the paper An Phoblacht under the by-line "Brownie", where he criticised the strategy and policy of Sinn Féin president Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and Billy McKee, the IRA's officer commanding in Belfast. He was also highly critical of a decision taken by McKee to assassinate members of the rival Official IRA, who had been on ceasefire since 1972.Template:Sfn In 2020, the UK Supreme Court quashed Adams' convictions for attempting to escape on Christmas Eve in 1973 and again in July 1974.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1977, Ballymurphy priest Des Wilson (who had officiated at Adams's wedding) assisted with an early attempt by Adams to open channels to dissident unionists. He helped set up meeting with Desmond Boal QC, a unionist barrister who had been first chairman of Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> At the time, Boal was co-operating with Seán MacBride as joint mediator in confidential negotiations between the Provisional IRA and the Ulster Volunteer Force about a federal settlement for Ireland.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A short time later, Wilson drove Adams to a meeting with John McKeague, founding member of the Red Hand Commando, then flirting with the idea of an independent Ulster. Inasmuch as they were "frank" , Adams found the meetings "constructive", but could find no common political ground.Template:Sfn Wilson was of the view that Adams was "one of the very few people who could actually bring a military campaign into a political campaign".Template:Sfn

Provisional Irish Republican ArmyEdit

Adams has consistently denied ever being a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> However, journalists such as Ed Moloney,Template:Sfn Peter Taylor,Template:Sfn and Mark Urban,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and historians, such as Richard English<ref name="English110">Template:Cite book</ref> and John Bowyer Bell,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> have all named Adams as part of the IRA leadership since the 1970s. Furthermore, several former IRA members, including Brendan Hughes,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Ivor Bell,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Seán Mac Stíofáin,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> have said Adams was also a member of the organisation. Practically all academics agree that Adams joined the IRA in the mid-1960s, was the Officer commanding (OC) of the 2nd battalion of the Belfast Brigade from 1971 to 1972, became the adjutant for the brigade in 1972, and had become the OC of the brigade by 1973.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Moloney and Taylor state that Adams became the IRA's Chief of Staff following the arrest of Seamus Twomey in early December 1977, remaining in the position until 18 February 1978 when he, along with twenty other republican suspects, was arrested following the La Mon restaurant bombing.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn He was charged with IRA membership and remanded to Crumlin Road Gaol.Template:Sfn He was released seven months later when the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland Robert Lowry ruled there was insufficient evidence to proceed with the prosecution.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Moloney and English state Adams had been a member of the IRA Army Council since 1977, remaining a member until 2005 according to former Irish Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform Michael McDowell.Template:Sfn<ref name=English110/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

Rightly or wrongly, I am an IRA Volunteer and, rightly or wrongly, I take a course of action as a means to bringing about a situation in which I believe the people of my country will prosper.{{#if:"Brownie" (reportedly a pseudonym of Adams') in an article written in An Phoblacht while Adams was a prisoner in Long Kesh in 1976<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Rise in Sinn FéinEdit

File:Gerry Adams reading into mic.jpg
Adams at a commemoration in County Fermanagh (2001)

In 1978, Adams became joint vice-president of Sinn Féin and a key figure in directing a challenge to the Sinn Féin leadership of President Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and joint vice-president Dáithí Ó Conaill. The 1975 IRA-British truce is often viewed as the event that began the challenge to the original Provisional Sinn Féin leadership, which was dominated by southerners like Ó Brádaigh and Ó Conaill.

One of the reasons that the Provisional IRA and Provisional Sinn Féin were founded, in December 1969 and January 1970, respectively, was that people like Ó Brádaigh, Ó Conaill and McKee opposed participation in constitutional politics. The other reason was the failure of the Cathal Goulding leadership to provide for the defence of Irish nationalist areas during the 1969 Northern Ireland riots. When, at the December 1969 IRA convention and the January 1970 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis, the delegates voted to participate in the Dublin (Leinster House), Belfast (Stormont) and London (Westminster) parliaments, the organisations split. Adams, who had joined the republican movement in the early 1960s, sided with the Provisionals.

In the Maze prison in the mid-1970s, writing under the pseudonym "Brownie" in Republican News, Adams called for increased political activity among republicans, especially at local level.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The call resonated with younger Northern people, some of whom had been active in the Provisional IRA but few of whom had been active in Sinn Féin. In 1977, Adams and Danny Morrison drafted the address of Jimmy Drumm at the annual Wolfe Tone commemoration at Bodenstown. The address was viewed as watershed in that Drumm acknowledged that the war would be a long one and that success depended on political activity that would complement the IRA's armed campaign. For some,Template:Who this wedding of politics and armed struggle culminated in Danny Morrison's statement at the 1981 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis in which he asked "Who here really believes we can win the war through the ballot box? But will anyone here object if, with a ballot paper in one hand and the Armalite in the other, we take power in Ireland?" For others, however, the call to link political activity with armed struggle had already been defined in Sinn Féin policy and in the presidential addresses of Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, but this had not resonated with young Northerners.<ref>Robert White, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, The Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary, pp. 258–59.</ref>

File:Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, Martin McGuinness & Gerry Adams at Bodenstown, 1997.jpg
Adams with Martin McGuinness and Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin in 1997

Even after the election of Bobby Sands as MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, a part of the mass mobilisation associated with the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike by republican prisoners in the H blocks of the Maze Prison, Adams was cautious that the level of political involvement by Sinn Féin could lead to electoral embarrassment. Charles Haughey, the Taoiseach of Ireland, called an election for June 1981. At an Ard Chomhairle meeting, Adams recommended that they contest only four constituencies which were in border counties. Instead, H-Block/Armagh candidates contested nine constituencies and elected two TDs. This, along with the election of Sands, was a precursor to an electoral breakthrough in elections in 1982 to the 1982 Northern Ireland Assembly.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Adams, Danny Morrison, Martin McGuinness, Jim McAllister and Owen Carron were elected as abstentionists. The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) had announced before the election that it would not take any seats and so its 14 elected representatives also abstained from participating in the Assembly and it was a failure. The 1982 election was followed by the 1983 Westminster election, in which Sinn Féin's vote increased and Adams was elected, as an abstentionist, as MP for Belfast West. It was in 1983 that Ruairí Ó Brádaigh resigned as President of Sinn Féin and was succeeded by Adams.

In 1983, Adams was elected president of Sinn Féin and became the first Sinn Féin MP elected to the British House of Commons since Phil Clarke and Tom Mitchell in the mid-1950s.<ref name="EI" /> Following his election as MP for Belfast West, the British government lifted a ban on his travelling to Great Britain. In line with Sinn Féin policy, he refused to take his seat in the House of Commons.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Assassination attempt by the UDAEdit

On 14 March 1984 in central Belfast, Adams was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt when Ulster Defence Association (UDA) gunmen fired about 20 shots into the car in which he was travelling. He was hit in the neck, shoulder and arm. He was rushed to the Royal Victoria Hospital, where he underwent surgery to remove three bullets. John Gregg and his team were apprehended almost immediately by a British Army patrol that opened fire on them before ramming their car.Template:Sfn The attack had been known in advance by security forces due to a tip-off from informants within the UDA; Adams and his co-passengers had survived in part because RUC officers, acting on the informants' information, had replaced much of the ammunition in the UDA's Rathcoole weapons dump with low-velocity bullets.Template:Sfn Some, including Adams himself, still have unanswered questions about the RUC's actions prior to the shooting.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> An Ulster Defence Regiment NCO subsequently received the Queen's Gallantry Medal for chasing and arresting an assailant.<ref>Potter, p. 268.</ref>Template:Full citation needed

President of Sinn FéinEdit

Many republicans had long claimed that the only legitimate Irish state was the Irish Republic declared in the 1916 Proclamation of the Republic. In their view, the legitimate government was the IRA Army Council, which had been vested with the authority of that Republic in 1938 (prior to the Second World War) by the last remaining anti-Treaty deputies of the Second Dáil. In his 2005 speech to the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis in Dublin, Adams explicitly rejected this view. "But we refuse to criminalise those who break the law in pursuit of legitimate political objectives. ... Sinn Féin is accused of recognising the Army Council of the IRA as the legitimate government of this island. That is not the case. [We] do not believe that the Army Council is the government of Ireland. Such a government will only exist when all the people of this island elect it. Does Sinn Féin accept the institutions of this state as the legitimate institutions of this state? Of course we do."<ref>Adams, Gerry, Speech to 2005 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis. Template:Webarchive CAIN Web Service.</ref>

As a result of this non-recognition, Sinn Féin had abstained from taking any of the seats they won in the British or Irish parliaments. At its 1986 Ard Fheis, Sinn Féin delegates passed a resolution to amend the rules and constitution that would allow its members to sit in the Dublin parliament. At this, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh led a small walkout, just as he and Sean Mac Stiofain had done sixteen years earlier with the creation of Provisional Sinn Féin.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> This minority, which rejected dropping the policy of abstentionism, now distinguishes itself from Sinn Féin by using the name Republican Sinn Féin, and maintains that they are the true Sinn Féin.

Adams' leadership of Sinn Féin was supported by a Northern-based cadre that included people like Danny Morrison and Martin McGuinness. Over time, Adams and others pointed to republican electoral successes in the early and mid-1980s, when hunger strikers Bobby Sands and Kieran Doherty were elected to the British House of Commons and Dáil Éireann respectively, and they advocated that Sinn Féin become increasingly political and base its influence on electoral politics rather than paramilitarism. The electoral effects of this strategy were shown later by the election of Adams and McGuinness to the House of Commons.

Voice banEdit

Adams's prominence as an Irish republican leader was increased by the 1988–1994 British broadcasting voice restrictions,<ref>The 'broadcast ban' on Sinn Fein Template:Webarchive, BBC News, 5 April 2005.</ref> which were imposed by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to "starve the terrorist and the hijacker of the oxygen of publicity on which they depend".<ref>Edgerton, Gary Quelling the "Oxygen of Publicity": British Broadcasting and "The Troubles" During the Thatcher Years, The Journal of Popular Culture, Volume 30, Issue 1, pp. 115–32.</ref> Thatcher was moved to act after BBC interviews of Martin McGuinness and Adams had been the focus of a row over an edition of After Dark, a proposed Channel 4 discussion programme which in the event was never made.<ref>Dubbing SF voices becomes the stuff of history Template:Webarchive, By Michael Foley The Irish Times, 17 September 1994.</ref> While the ban covered 11 Irish political parties and paramilitary organisations, in practice it mostly affected Sinn Féin, the most prominent of these bodies.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

A similar ban, known as Section 31, had been law in the Republic of Ireland since the 1970s. However, media outlets soon found ways around the bans. In the UK, this was initially by the use of subtitles, but later and more often by an actor reading words accompanied by video footage of the banned person speaking. Actors who voiced Adams included Stephen Rea and Paul Loughran.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> This loophole could not be used in the Republic, as word-for-word broadcasts were not allowed.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Instead, the banned speaker's words were summarised by the newsreader, over video of them speaking.

These bans were lampooned in cartoons, by comedians and satirical TV shows, such as Jasper Carrott, Spitting Image, and in The Day Today, and were criticised by freedom of speech organisations and media personalities, including BBC Director General John Birt and BBC foreign editor John Simpson. The Republic's ban was allowed to lapse in January 1994, and the British ban was lifted by Prime Minister John Major in September 1994.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Movement into mainstream politicsEdit

File:President Bill Clinton and Gerry Adams.jpg
Adams with President Bill Clinton in 1995

Sinn Féin continued its policy of refusing to sit in the Westminster Parliament after Adams won the Belfast West constituency. He lost his seat to Joe Hendron of the SDLP in the 1992 general election,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> regaining it at the following 1997 election. Under Adams, Sinn Féin moved away from being a political voice of the Provisional IRA to becoming a professionally organised political party in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

SDLP leader John Hume identified the possibility that a negotiated settlement might be possible and began secret talks with Adams in 1988. These discussions led to unofficial contacts with the British Northern Ireland Office under the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Brooke, and with the government of the Republic under Charles Haughey – although both governments maintained in public that they would not negotiate with terrorists.Template:Citation needed These talks provided the groundwork for what was later to be the Belfast Agreement, preceded by the milestone Downing Street Declaration and the Joint Framework Document.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

These negotiations led to the IRA ceasefire in August 1994. Taoiseach Albert Reynolds, who had replaced Haughey and who had played a key role in the Hume/Adams dialogue through his Special Advisor Martin Mansergh, regarded the ceasefire as permanent. However, the slow pace of developments contributed in part to the (wider) political difficulties of the British government of John Major. His consequent reliance on Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) votes in the House of Commons led to him agreeing with the UUP demand to exclude Sinn Féin from talks until the IRA had decommissioned its weapons. Sinn Féin's exclusion led the IRA to end its ceasefire and resume its campaign.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

After the 1997 United Kingdom general election, the new Labour government had a majority in the House of Commons and was not reliant on unionist votes. The subsequent dropping of the insistence led to another IRA ceasefire, as part of the negotiations strategy, which saw teams from the British and Irish governments, the UUP, the SDLP, Sinn Féin, and representatives of loyalist paramilitary organisations, under the chairmanship of former United States Senator George Mitchell, produce the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.<ref name="eb" /> Under the Agreement, structures were created reflecting the Irish and British identities of the people of Ireland, creating a British-Irish Council and a Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution of Ireland of the Republic's constitution, which claimed sovereignty over all of Ireland, were reworded, and a power-sharing Executive Committee was provided for. As part of their deal, Sinn Féin agreed to abandon its abstentionist policy regarding a "six-county parliament", as a result taking seats in the new Stormont-based Assembly and running the education and health and social services ministries in the power-sharing government.

Sinn Féin in governmentEdit

File:George W. Bush, Peter King, and Gerry Adams.jpg
Adams with President George W. Bush and Peter King in 2001

On 15 August 1998, four months after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, the Omagh bombing by the Real IRA, killed 29 people and injured 220, from multiple communities. Adams said in reaction to the bombing "I am totally horrified by this action. I condemn it without any equivocation whatsoever."<ref name="bbc">Template:Cite news</ref> Prior to this, Adams had not used the word "condemn" in relation to IRA or their splinter groups' actions.<ref name="bbc" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In March 2007, Adams was re-elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in March 2007, and subsequently met with DUP leader Ian Paisley face-to-face for the first time. These talks led to the St Andrews Agreement, which brought about the return of the power-sharing Executive in Northern Ireland.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> When Sinn Féin came to nominate its two ministers to the Northern Ireland Executive, for tactical reasons the party, like the SDLP and the DUP, chose not to include its leader among its ministers.

In January 2009, Adams attended the United States presidential inauguration of Barack Obama as a guest of US Congressman Richard Neal.<ref>19/Jan/2009 Barack Obama inauguration: Gerry Adams to attend ceremony The Daily Telegraph.</ref>

Election to Dáil ÉireannEdit

Adams was re-elected as MP for West Belfast with 71.1% of the vote in May 2010,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> but resigned his seat the following December,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> in order to seek election as a TD (member of Irish Parliament) for the constituency of Louth at the 2011 Irish general election.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He topped the poll in the consistuency with 15,072 (21.7%) first preference votes,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and was duly elected to Dáil Éireann where he succeeded Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin as Sinn Féin parliamentary leader.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In December 2013, Adams was a member of the Guard of Honour at Nelson Mandela's funeral.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

2014 arrestEdit

On 30 April 2014, Adams was arrested by detectives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Serious Crime Branch, under the Terrorism Act 2000, in connection with the murder of Jean McConville in 1972.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He had previously voluntarily arranged to be interviewed by police regarding the matter,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and maintained he had no involvement.<ref name="BBC McConville">Template:Cite news</ref> Fellow Sinn Féin politician Alex Maskey stated that the timing of the arrest, "three weeks into an election", was evidence of a "political agenda [...] a negative agenda" by the PSNI.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> McConville's family had campaigned for the arrest of Adams for the murder.<ref>Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams arrested over murder of widowed mother abducted in 1972 Template:Webarchive</ref> McConville's son Michael said that his family did not think the arrest of Adams would ever happen, and were glad that the arrest took place. Adams was released without charge after four days in custody when a file was sent to the Public Prosecution Service, which would decide if criminal charges should be brought.<ref>Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams held over Jean McConville murder Template:Webarchive. BBC News. 30 April 2014.</ref><ref>Shadow of Jean McConville murder still hangs over Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein Template:Webarchive Irish Independent, 5 May 2014.</ref><ref name="Adams released">Template:Cite news</ref>

At a press conference after his release, Adams criticised the timing of his arrest, reiterated Sinn Féin's support for the PSNI and said: "The IRA is gone. It is finished."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Adams denied that he had any involvement in the murder or was ever a member of the IRA,<ref name="bbc.com" /><ref name="BBC McConville" /><ref name="BBC-Deny01">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and said the allegations came from "enemies of the peace process".<ref name="bbc.com" /> On 29 September 2015 the Public Prosecution Service announced Adams would not face charges, due to insufficient evidence,<ref name="G2015">Template:Cite news</ref> as had been expected ever since a BBC report dated 6 May 2014 (2 days after the BBC reported his release),<ref name="BBC-Insuff01">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> which was widely repeated elsewhere.<ref name="Mirror-Insuff01">Template:Cite news</ref>

Late presidencyEdit

File:Euclid Tsakalotos Gerry Adams 2015.jpg
Gerry Adams with Euclid Tsakalotos at the Sinn Féin ardfheis in March 2015

On 19 May 2015, while on an official royal trip to Ireland, Prince Charles shook Adams' hand in what was described as a highly symbolic gesture of reconciliation. The meeting, described as "historic", took place in Galway.<ref name="guardianmay19">"Prince Charles and Gerry Adams share historic handshake". The Guardian. Henry McDonald. 19 May 2015 Template:Webarchive retrieved 20 May 2015.</ref>

In September 2017, Adams said he would allow his name to go forward for a one-year term as president of Sinn Féin at the November ardfheis, at which point Sinn Féin would begin a "planned process of generational change, including [Adams'] own future intentions". This resulted in speculation in the Irish and British media that Adams was preparing to stand down as party leader, and that he might run for President of Ireland in the next election.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> At the ardfheis on 18 November, Adams was re-elected for another year as party president, but announced that he would step down at some point in 2018, and would not seek re-election as TD for Louth.<ref name="Retirement" />

End of Sinn Féin presidencyEdit

File:Gerry Adams & Mary Lou McDonald 2014.jpg
Adams and his successor Mary Lou McDonald, pictured here in 2014

Adams' presidency of Sinn Féin ended on 10 February 2018, with his stepping down and the election of Mary Lou McDonald as the party's new president.<ref>McDonald succeeds Adams as President of Sinn Féin Template:Webarchive. RTÉ. Published 11 February 2018. Retrieved 27 March 2018.</ref>

On 13 July 2018, a home-made bomb was thrown at Adams' home in West Belfast, damaging a car parked in his driveway. Adams escaped injury and claimed that his two grandchildren were standing in the driveway only ten minutes before the blast. Another bomb was set off that same evening at the nearby home of former IRA volunteer and Sinn Féin official Bobby Storey. In a press conference the following day, Adams said he thought the attacks were linked to the riots in Derry, and asked that those responsible "come and sit down" and "give us the rationale for this action".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

BBC Libel CaseEdit

In 2017, Adams launched a defamation case against the BBC over a programme it ran that alleged he sanctioned the murder of an informer. The case stems from a 2016 BBC Northern Ireland Spotlight TV documentary. The programme focused on Denis Donaldson, a member of Sinn Féin, who was also in the IRA. He was murdered in 2006, four months after Adams revealed that he was an informer for the MI5. At the time, the murder was condemned by all, including Adams. Adams also denied any involvement in his murder.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In May 2025, Adams won the case, with the jury ruling the programme defamatory and awarding him €100,000 (approximately £85,000) in damages.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Following the trial, Adams said: “I’ve always been satisfied with my reputation ... we all have flaws in our character, but the jury made the decision and let’s accept the outcome."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Personal lifeEdit

Template:Irish republicanism Template:Republicanism sidebar In 1971, Adams married Collette McArdle.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Their son Gearoid who was born in 1973,Template:Sfn went on to play Gaelic football for Antrim GAA senior men's team and became its assistant manager in 2012.<ref>Adams declares Antrim interest Template:Webarchive HoganStand, 5 September 2012.</ref>

In 2013, Adams' brother Liam was found guilty of 10 offences, including rape and gross indecency committed against his own daughter.<ref name="bbc-news-verdict">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After the allegations of abuse were first made public in 2009, Gerry Adams alleged that his father had subjected family members to emotional, physical, and sexual abuse.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Adams reveals family history of abuse Template:Webarchive. RTÉ News and Current Affairs. Sunday, 20 December 2009. Audio interview also available from that page.</ref> Liam was jailed for 16 years,<ref>Liam Adams jailed for raping and abusing daughter Template:Webarchive, BBC News, 27 November 2013.</ref> and died of pancreatic cancer in February 2019 at the age of 63 while in Maghaberry Prison.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2016, Adams sparked controversy by posting "Watching Django Unchained—A Ballymurphy Nigger!" on social media.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This was widely reported,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Adams deleted it and apologised.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Media portrayalsEdit

Adams has been portrayed in a number of films, TV series, and books:

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> The series portrays Adams as being a senior IRA commander. Each episode contains an endnote stating "Gerry Adams has always denied being a member of the IRA or participating in any IRA-related violence."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Published worksEdit

  • Falls Memories, 1982
  • The Politics of Irish Freedom, 1986
  • A Pathway to Peace, 1988
  • An Irish Voice: The Quest for Peace
  • Cage Eleven, 1990, Brandon Books, Template:ISBN
  • The Street and Other Stories, 1993, Brandon Books, Template:ISBN
  • Free Ireland: Towards a Lasting Peace, 1995
  • Before the Dawn: An Autobiography, 1996, Brandon Books, Template:ISBN
  • Selected Writings
  • Who Fears to Speak...?, 2001 (Original Edition 1991), Beyond the Pale Publications, Template:ISBN
  • An Irish Journal, 2001, Brandon Books, Template:ISBN
  • Hope and History: Making Peace in Ireland, 2003, Brandon Books, Template:ISBN
  • A Farther Shore, 2005, Random House
  • The New Ireland: A Vision For The Future, 2005, Brandon Books, Template:ISBN
  • An Irish Eye, 2007, Brandon Books, Template:ISBN
  • My Little Book of Tweets, 2016, Mercier Press, Template:ISBN

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist

Works citedEdit

Further readingEdit

  • {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}

External linksEdit

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Template:UK MP links 

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