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{{short description|Irish republican politician (born 1948)}} | |||
:''"Ian Paisley" may also refer to ]'' | |||
{{About other people|the Irish republican politician}} | |||
{{Infobox Politician | name=The Rev. and Rt Hon. Dr. Ian Paisley MP MLA | |||
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=July 2022}} | |||
| image=Replace_this_image1.svg | |||
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} | |||
| width=144px | |||
{{Infobox officeholder | |||
| term_start=1970 | |||
| name = Gerry Adams | |||
| term_end= | |||
| honorific-suffix = | |||
| predecessor= | |||
| image = Gerry Adams in 2018 (cropped).jpg | |||
| successor=] | |||
| caption = Adams in 2018 | |||
| birth_date={{birth date and age|1926|4|6}} | |||
| office = ] | |||
| birth_place=], ] | |||
| term_start = 13 November 1983 | |||
| constituency=] | |||
| term_end = 10 February 2018 | |||
| party=] | |||
| predecessor = ] | |||
| office=] | |||
| successor = ] | |||
| spouse=] | |||
| vicepresident = {{plainlist| | |||
| religion=] | |||
*] | |||
| website=http://www.ianpaisley.org | |||
*] | |||
| caption= | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
}} | }} | ||
| office1 = Leader of ] in ] | |||
<!---Start of article---> | |||
| term_start1 = 9 March 2011 | |||
'''Gerry Adams''' (born ] ]), styled '''] and ] Gerry Adams ] ]''' and also known as '''] Ian Paisley''', is a senior ] and church leader in ]. As the leader of the most successful party in the ] to the ], he is due to take up office as the ] on ], ]. | |||
| term_end1 = 10 February 2018 | |||
| predecessor1 = ] | |||
| successor1 = ] | |||
| office3 = ] <br />for ] | |||
| term_start3 = ] | |||
| term_end3 = ] | |||
| office4 = ]<br /> for ] | |||
| term_start4 = 25 June 1998 | |||
| term_end4 = 7 December 2010 | |||
| predecessor4 = ''Constituency established'' | |||
| successor4 = ] | |||
| parliament5 = United Kingdom | |||
| constituency_MP5 = ] | |||
| term_start5 = 1 May 1997 | |||
| term_end5 = 26 January 2011 | |||
| predecessor5 = ] | |||
| successor5 = ] | |||
| term_start6 = 9 June 1983 | |||
| term_end6 = 16 March 1992 | |||
| predecessor6 = ] | |||
| successor6 = Joe Hendron | |||
| birth_name = Gerard Adams | |||
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1948|10|6|df=y}} | |||
| birth_place = ], Northern Ireland | |||
| death_date = | |||
| death_place = | |||
| party = ] | |||
| education = ] | |||
| spouse = {{marriage|Collette McArdle|1971}} | |||
| children = 1 | |||
| website = {{URL|sinnfein.ie/contents/20204}} | |||
| father = ] | |||
}} | |||
'''Gerard Adams''' ({{langx|ga|Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh}};<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cairt Chearta do Chách |url=http://www.sinnfein.ie/gaelic/news/detail/3041 |language=ga |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071118214900/http://www.sinnfein.ie/gaelic/news/detail/3041 |archive-date=18 November 2007 |access-date=30 November 2006}} Sinn Féin press release, 26 January 2004.</ref> born 6 October 1948) is an ] politician who was the ] between 13 November 1983 and 10 February 2018, and served as a ] (TD) for ] from 2011–2020.<ref name="oireachtas_db">{{Cite web |title=Gerry Adams |url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Gerry-Adams.D.2011-03-09/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107191221/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Gerry-Adams.D.2011-03-09 |archive-date=7 November 2018 |access-date=28 December 2018 |website=Oireachtas Members Database}}</ref><ref name="elecs_irl">{{Cite web |title=Gerry Adams |url=http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=7934 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803152307/https://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=7934 |archive-date=3 August 2020 |access-date=6 March 2011 |publisher=ElectionsIreland.org}}</ref> From 1983–1992 and from 1997–2011, he won election as a ] (MP) of the ] for the ], but followed the policy of ]. | |||
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 ] (UDA).<ref>{{Cite news |date=14 March 1984 |title=1984: Sinn Fein leader shot in street attack |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/14/newsid_2543000/2543503.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191029212844/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/14/newsid_2543000/2543503.stm |archive-date=29 October 2019 |access-date=3 May 2014 |work=BBC: On This Day}}</ref> From the late 1980s onwards, he was an important figure in the ], entering into talks initially with ] (SDLP) leader ] and then subsequently with the ] and ] governments.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Irish Genealogy, Customs & Roots |url=http://www.irishcentral.com/irishpeople/gerry-adams.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140106041138/http://www.irishcentral.com/irishpeople/gerry-adams.html |archive-date=6 January 2014 |access-date=2 May 2014 |publisher=IrishCentral.com}}</ref> In 1986, he convinced Sinn Féin to change its traditional policy of abstentionism towards the ], the parliament of the ]. In 1998, it also took seats in the power-sharing ]. In 2005, the ] (IRA) stated that its armed campaign was over and that it was exclusively committed to peaceful politics.<ref>{{Cite news |date=28 July 2005 |title=Full text: IRA statement |url=https://www.theguardian.com/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,,1537996,00.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923024532/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/jul/28/northernireland.devolution |archive-date=23 September 2021 |access-date=17 March 2007 |work=The Guardian |location=London}}</ref> | |||
He is a founding member of and current ] of the ] while also Leader of the ] (DUP). Paisley has been Member of Parliament for the constituency of ] since 1970, and is also a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for the same constituency. | |||
Adams has often been accused of being a member of the IRA leadership in the 1970s and 80s, though he consistently denied any involvement in the organisation. In 2014, he was held for four days by the ] for questioning in connection with the 1972 abduction and ].<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180821212419/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27232731 |date=21 August 2018 }}, BBC News. Retrieved 30 April 2014.</ref><ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201065522/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27233712 |date=1 December 2017 }}, ], 1 May 2014.</ref> He was released without charge and a file was sent to the ],<ref name="bbc.com">{{Cite news |date=4 May 2014 |title=Timing of arrest wrong says Adams |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27278039 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180727120602/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27278039 |archive-date=27 July 2018 |access-date=22 June 2018 |work=BBC News}}</ref> which later stated there was insufficient evidence to charge him.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180220072439/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-34391198 |date=20 February 2018 }}. ], 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 ] in 2020.<ref name="Retirement">{{Cite news |last=Doyle |first=Kevin |date=18 November 2017 |title=Gerry Adams to step down as Sinn Féin leader in 2018 |url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/gerry-adams-to-step-down-as-sinn-fein-leader-in-2018-36332662.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171119013404/https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/gerry-adams-to-step-down-as-sinn-fein-leader-in-2018-36332662.html |archive-date=19 November 2017 |access-date=19 November 2017 |work=]}}</ref> He was succeeded by ] at a special '']'' (party conference) on 10 February 2018.<ref name="IrishTimes2018-01-20a">{{Cite news |title=Mary Lou McDonald confirmed as new leader of Sinn Féin |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/mary-lou-mcdonald-confirmed-as-new-leader-of-sinn-f%C3%A9in-1.3362813 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710013446/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/mary-lou-mcdonald-confirmed-as-new-leader-of-sinn-f%C3%A9in-1.3362813 |archive-date=10 July 2018 |access-date=20 January 2018 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en-US}}</ref> | |||
Paisley has been an outspoken critic of the ] faith and has also campaigned against the legalisation of homosexuality. In 2005 Paisley's political party became the largest ] party in Northern Ireland, displacing his long-term rivals, the ] (UUP). Paisley is also a prolific author, lecturer and speaker. | |||
== |
==Early life== | ||
Adams was born in the ] district of ] on 6 October 1948.<ref name="bbcadams">{{Cite news |date=20 November 2017 |title=Gerry Adams: Profile of Sinn Féin leader |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27238602 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200310023721/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27238602 |archive-date=10 March 2020 |access-date=14 June 2020 |work=] |language=en}}</ref><ref name="eb">{{Cite web |title=Gerry Adams |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gerry-Adams |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107032811/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gerry-Adams |archive-date=7 November 2017 |access-date=11 July 2019 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}}</ref> His parents, Anne (née Hannaway) and ], came from ] backgrounds.<ref name="eb" /> His grandfather, also named Gerry Adams, was a member of the ] (IRB) during the ]. Two of his uncles, Dominic and Patrick Adams, had been interned by the governments in Belfast and ].<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 November 2017 |title=Profile: Gerry Adams |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27238602 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121215123/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27238602 |archive-date=21 January 2018 |access-date=19 January 2018 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref> In ]'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 ] (IRA) of the mid-1940s. Gerry Adams Sr. joined the IRA at age 16. In 1942, he participated in an IRA ambush on a ] (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 ].{{sfn|Moloney|2002|p=38}} Michael's son, Billy, was election agent for ] at the ] in ]. | |||
Ian Paisley was born and brought up in the town of ], ], where his father James Kyle Paisley was an ] pastor. His ] mother Isabella Paisley was instrumental in his ] conversion at the age of six. After completing his education at the Model School in Ballymena, he went to work on a farm in ], County Tyrone. During this time he felt that he received a vocation to enter the Christian ministry. He undertook theological training at the ] ] School of Evangelism (eventually renamed the ] which was later replaced by the ]), and later, for a year, at the ] Theological Hall in ]. | |||
Adams attended ] on ], where he was taught by ]. Having passed the ] exam in 1960, he attended ]. He left St Mary's with six ] and worked in bars. | |||
====Founding of the Free Presbyterian Church ==== | |||
In 1946 he was ordained at a ceremony in the independent Ravenhill Evangelical Mission Church on the Ravenhill Road, Belfast. Four ministers from four different denominations performed various roles in the service but some have questioned whether they had ecclesiastical authority from their churches to participate. In the early 1950s permission for Ian Paisley to use Lissara Presbyterian church in ], County Down for a Gospel Mission was revoked by the local presbytery. In conjunction with the Lissara Kirk session Ian Paisley helped to establish the ] at ], ]. Following a vote in his own church he joined the Free Presbyterian Church and was subsequently elected the second moderator of the new denomination, a post he has held for several decades. | |||
==Early political career== | |||
Paisley eventually set up his own newspaper, the ''Protestant Telegraph,'' a strongly ] paper, as a mechanism for further spreading his message. A website, the , fills that role today. He has authored numerous books and pamphlets on religious and political subjects including a commentary on the ]. | |||
] (2008)]] | |||
In the late 1960s, a ]. After being radicalised by the Divis Street riots during the ] campaign, Adams joined ] and ].<ref name="EI">{{Cite book |title=The Encyclopaedia of Ireland |publisher=Gill & Macmillan |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7171-3000-9 |editor-last=Lalor, Brian |location=Dublin, Ireland |pages=7–8}}</ref> Adams was an active supporter and joined the ] in 1967.<ref name="EI" /> The civil rights movement was met with violence from ] counter-demonstrations and the RUC, and British troops were called in at the request of the ]. | |||
Adams was active in rioting at this time and later became involved in the ]. In August 1971, ] was reintroduced to Northern Ireland under the ]. 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 {{HMS|Maidstone|1937|6}}, 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 ] at ] in Chelsea. The delegation included Adams, ], ] (]), ], ], ] and Dublin solicitor ].<ref>{{Cite book |last=O'Brien |first=Brendan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Io085Nl0CJQC&q=ira%20delegation%20myles%20shevlin%20william%20whitelaw&pg=PA169 |title=The long war: the IRA and Sinn Féin, Brendan O'Brien, p169 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-8156-0597-3 |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310214138/https://books.google.com/books?id=Io085Nl0CJQC&q=ira%20delegation%20myles%20shevlin%20william%20whitelaw&pg=PA169 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
Paisley's use of the title 'Dr.' derives from an honorary ] degree awarded by ], a ] college in ]. ] (1911 – 1997) was a close personal friend and, with Paisley, a leader in Christian fundamentalism. Paisley continues to maintain a friendly relationship with the institution and has often spoken at the University's annual Bible Conference. | |||
Adams was re-arrested in July 1973 and interned at the ]. 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 '']'' under the by-line "Brownie", where he criticised the strategy and policy of Sinn Féin president ] and ], the IRA's ] in Belfast. He was also highly critical of a decision taken by McKee to assassinate members of the rival ], who had been on ceasefire since 1972.{{sfn|Moloney|2002|pp=166-168}} In 2020, the ] quashed Adams' convictions for attempting to escape on Christmas Eve in 1973 and again in July 1974.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ng |first=Kate |date=14 May 2020 |title=Gerry Adams wins Supreme Court appeal against convictions over prison break bids |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/gerry-adams-maze-prison-escape-supreme-court-conviction-appeal-verdict-a9511666.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200517134945/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/gerry-adams-maze-prison-escape-supreme-court-conviction-appeal-verdict-a9511666.html |archive-date=17 May 2020 |access-date=17 May 2020 |work=The Independent}}</ref> | |||
====Membership of the Loyal Orders==== | |||
In 1977, ] priest ] (who had officiated at Adams's wedding) assisted with an early attempt by Adams to open channels to dissident ]. He helped set up meeting with ] ], a unionist barrister who had been first chairman of ]'s ].<ref>{{Cite web |date=11 July 2019 |title=Derry City Cemetery Series: Desmond Boal, the DUP founder and unionist MP who defended dozens of republicans in court |url=https://www.derrynow.com/news/local-news/438702/derry-city-cemetery-series-desmond-boal-the-dup-founder-and-unionist-mp-who-defended-dozens-of-republicans-in-court.html |access-date=21 August 2023 |website=www.derrynow.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Ryder |first=Chris |date=7 May 2015 |title=Desmond Boal obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/may/07/desmond-boal |access-date=21 August 2023 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> At the time, Boal was co-operating with ] as joint mediator in confidential negotiations between the Provisional IRA and the ] about a federal settlement for Ireland.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Maune |first=Patrick |date=2022 |title=Boal, Desmond Norman Orr {{!}} Dictionary of Irish Biography |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/boal-desmond-norman-orr-a10229 |access-date=21 August 2023 |website=www.dib.ie}}</ref> A short time later, Wilson drove Adams to a meeting with ], founding member of the ], 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.{{sfn|Sharrock|Devenport|1997|p=155}} 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".{{sfn|Sharrock|Devenport|1997|p=462}} | |||
Paisley is a former member of the ]. He addresses the annual gathering of the ] every ]. | |||
===IRA membership allegations=== | |||
====Democratic Unionist Party==== | |||
Adams has stated repeatedly that he has never been a member of the ] (IRA).<ref>{{cite web |last1=McKeown |first1=Lesley-Anne |title=Gerry Adams denies kidnapping and killing Jean McConville |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-50062709 |website=] |access-date=22 November 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241122223603/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-50062709 |archive-date=22 November 2024 |language=en |date=17 October 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Rosie Cowan |date=1 October 2002 |title=Adams denies IRA links as book calls him a genius |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk_news/story/0,3604,802084,00.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923170528/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/oct/01/northernireland.northernireland |archive-date=23 September 2021 |access-date=22 March 2007 |work=The Guardian |location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Flavin |first1=Michael |title=Was Gerry Adams a transformational leader? |journal=Small Wars & Insurgencies |date=2 April 2024 |volume=35 |issue=3 |page=434 |doi=10.1080/09592318.2024.2311913 |quote=The IRA that Adams joined in the mid-nineteen sixties was, in effect, moribund, though Adams has always denied IRA membership.|doi-access=free }}</ref> However, journalists such as ],{{sfn|Moloney|2002|p=140}} ],{{sfn|Taylor|1997|p=140}} and ],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Urban |first=Mark |title=Big Boys' Rules: SAS and the Secret Struggle Against the IRA |publisher=] |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-571-16809-5 |page=26}}</ref> and historians, such as ]<ref name="English110">{{Cite book |last=English |first=Richard |author-link=Richard English |title=Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA |publisher=] |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-330-49388-8 |page=110}}</ref> and ],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bell |first1=J. Bowyer |author1-link=J._Bowyer_Bell |title=The IRA, 1968-2000: analysis of a secret army |date=2000 |publisher=] |isbn=0714681199 |page=154}}</ref> have all named Adams as part of the IRA leadership since the 1970s. Furthermore, several former IRA members, including ],<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kelleher |first1=Lynne |title=Tape accusing SF boss Gerry Adams of death squad role to air on TV |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/tape-accusing-sf-boss-gerry-adams-of-death-squad-role-to-air-on-tv/28566652.html |website=] |access-date=22 November 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241122222425/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/tape-accusing-sf-boss-gerry-adams-of-death-squad-role-to-air-on-tv/28566652.html |archive-date=22 November 2024 |language=en |date=25 October 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> ],<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kearney |first1=Vincent |title=Bell not guilty of soliciting murder of Jean McConville |url=https://www.rte.ie/news/2019/1017/1083977-ira-court-verdict/ |website=] |access-date=22 November 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241122234406/https://www.rte.ie/news/2019/1017/1083977-ira-court-verdict/ |archive-date=22 November 2024 |language=en |date=17 October 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> and ],<ref>{{cite web |title=Interviews - Sean Macstiofain {{!}} The Ira & Sinn Fein {{!}} FRONTLINE {{!}} PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ira/inside/mac.html |website=] |access-date=22 November 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120908022003/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ira/inside/mac.html |archive-date=8 Sep 2012 |language=en |url-status=live}}</ref> have said Adams was also a member of the organisation. Practically all academics agree that Adams joined ], was the ] (OC) of the 2nd battalion of the ] from 1971-1972, became the ] for the brigade in 1972, and had become the OC of the brigade by 1973.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hopkins |first1=Stephen |title=The life history of an exemplary Provisional republican: Gerry Adams and the politics of biography |journal=] |date=3 April 2018 |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=11-12 |doi=10.1080/07907184.2018.1454666|hdl=2381/43742 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> | |||
The ] was established in 1971 by Ian Paisley and ]. It is currently the largest party in Northern Ireland and the fourth largest party in the United Kingdom in terms of representation at Westminster. DUP supporters are not always members of the Free Presbyterian Church. | |||
Moloney and Taylor state that Adams became the IRA's Chief of Staff following the arrest of ] in early December 1977, remaining in the position until 18 February 1978 when he, along with twenty other republican suspects, was arrested following the ].{{sfn|Moloney|2002|pp=171-172}}{{sfn|Taylor|1997|p=201}} He was charged with IRA membership and remanded to ].{{sfn|Moloney|2002|p=173}} He was released seven months later when the ] ] ruled there was insufficient evidence to proceed with the prosecution.{{sfn|Moloney|2002|p=173}}{{sfn|Taylor|1997|pp=201-202}} Moloney and English state Adams had been a member of the ] since 1977, remaining a member until 2005 according to former Irish ] ].{{sfn|Moloney|2002|p=380}}<ref name=English110/><ref>{{Cite news |date=29 July 2005 |title=SF members 'leave army council' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4718811.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190814153113/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4718811.stm |archive-date=14 August 2019 |access-date=13 October 2019 |via=news.bbc.co.uk}}</ref> | |||
In 1956, Paisley was among those invited to a special meeting at the ]'s offices in Glengall Street, Belfast. Many ] who were to become major figures in the 1960s and 1970 also attended, and the meeting's declared purpose was to organise the defence of Protestant areas against anticipated ] (IRA) activity, as the old ] had done after partition in 1920.<ref>This move followed the election win by Sinn Féin of over 150,000 votes in the 1955 elections- the strongest expression of anti-partitionist feeling in some years. The fears were well founded as the IRA was preparing for a new campaign starting in December 1956, which would have included attacks on ] (RUC) stations in Belfast were it not for that section of the plan being discovered. See article ]</ref> The new body decided to call itself ] (UPA), and the first year of its existence was taken up with the discussion of vigilante patrols, street barricades, and drawing up lists of IRA suspects in both Belfast and in rural areas.<ref>See ], Long Shadows Cast Before, Edinburgh, 1978, pp.130-131.</ref> | |||
{{Blockquote | |||
Even though no IRA threat materialised in Belfast, and despite it becoming clear that the IRA's activities during the ] were to be limited to the border areas, Ulster Protestant Action remained in being, (the UPA was to later become the ] in 1966). Factory and workplace branches were formed under the UPA, including one by Paisley in Belfast's ] area under his direct control. The concern of the UPA increasingly came to focus on the defence of 'Bible Protestantism' and Protestant interests where jobs and housing were concerned. As Paisley came to dominate Ulster Protestant Action, he received his first convictions for public order offences. In June 1959, a major riot occurred on the ] in Belfast following a rally he had spoken at.<ref>See Ian S. Wood, 'The IRA's Border Campaign' p.123 in Anderson, Malcolm and Eberhard Bort, ed. 'Irish Border: History, Politics, Culture'. Liverpool University Press. 1999</ref> | |||
|text=Rightly or wrongly, I am an ] 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. | |||
|author="Brownie" (reportedly a pseudonym of Adams') in an article written in '']'' while Adams was a prisoner in ] in 1976<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shanahan |first1=Timothy |title=The Provisional Irish Republican Army and the morality of terrorism |date=18 December 2009 |publisher=] |location=Edinburgh |isbn=978-0748635290 |pages=125-126 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Stanage |first1=Niall |title=Blood and guts |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/oct/02/northernireland.comment |website=] |access-date=22 November 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241122213912/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/oct/02/northernireland.comment |archive-date=22 November 2024 |language=en |date=2 October 2002 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Cusack |first1=Jim |title=Adams denial of IRA membership mocks his history |url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/adams-denial-of-ira-membership-mocks-his-history/26218540.html |website=] |access-date=22 November 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241122214154/https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/adams-denial-of-ira-membership-mocks-his-history/26218540.html |archive-date=22 November 2024 |language=en |date=7 March 2004 |url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
}} | |||
==Rise in Sinn Féin== | |||
In the 1960s he campaigned against ] ]'s ''rapprochement'' with the ] and his meetings with ] of the Republic, ], a veteran of Easter 1916 and the anti-Treaty IRA. He opposed efforts by O'Neill to deliver civil rights to the minority ] community in Northern Ireland, which included the abolition of ]ing of local electoral areas for the election of urban and county councils. In 1964 his demand that the ] remove an ] from ]'s Belfast offices led to two days of rioting, after this was followed through (see ] – the public display of any symbol which could cause a breach of the peace was illegal until Westminster repealed the Flags Act in 1987). <ref>Statutory Instrument 1987 No. 463 (N.I. 7) </ref>. Paisley's approach led him in turn to oppose O'Neill's successors as Prime Minister, Major ] (later called Lord Moyola) and ]. | |||
] (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 ] 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 (]), 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 1969, he was jailed along with ] for organising an illegal counter-demonstration against a ] march in ]. He was released during a general amnesty for people convicted of political offences. <ref>PRISON SENTENCES ON PAISLEY AND BUNTING, The Times. ] ] </ref> | |||
In the Maze prison in the mid-1970s, writing under the pseudonym "Brownie" in '']'', Adams called for increased political activity among republicans, especially at local level.<ref>{{Cite news |date=19 June 2004 |title=Sinn Féin: where does the money come from? |url=http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=36&si=1201596&issue_id=11029 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904035249/http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=36&si=1201596&issue_id=11029 |archive-date=4 September 2015 |work=Irish Independent}}</ref> The call resonated with younger Northern people, many of whom had been active in the Provisional IRA but few of whom had been active in Sinn Féin. In 1977, Adams and ] drafted the address of Jimmy Drumm at the annual ] commemoration at ]. 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,{{Who|date=August 2010}} this wedding of politics and armed struggle culminated in Danny Morrison's statement at the 1981 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis in which he asked "]?" 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> | |||
British Government papers released in 2002, show that in 1971 Paisley attempted to reach a compromise with the nationalist ] (SDLP).<ref>See BBC News article Tuesday, ] ] 'Ian Paisley sought 'deal' with SDLP' available </ref> The attempt was made via then British Cabinet Secretary, Sir ]. The papers show that Paisley had indicated he could "reach an accommodation with leaders of the Catholic minority, which would provide the basis of a new government in Stormont." It appears that the move was rejected once it became clear to the SDLP that the deal would favour the unionist majority. Speaking about the deal in 2002 Paisley said: | |||
{{Cquote|"The SDLP did not want to go along the road that we would have wanted them to go. I wouldn't say there were talks, there was an exchange of views between us, but it never got anywhere. We were prepared to try and seek a way whereby we could govern Northern Ireland and that people of both faiths could be happy with the way it was being governed, but it all rested on the key point — the person with power would be the person that the people gave the power."<ref>See BBC News article Tuesday, ] ] 'Ian Paisley sought 'deal' with SDLP' available </ref>|20px|20px|Ian Paisley, 2002}} | |||
] and ] in 1997]] | |||
Paisley opposed the 1972 suspension by the British government of ] of the ] and government (known colloquially by the term Stormont due to the location of ] on the Stormont estate). He opposed the ] which sought to rework relationships between Northern Ireland, the ] and the United Kingdom, and which provided for a power-sharing executive (government) involving both communities in Northern Ireland, and a controversial all-island ] linking Northern Ireland and the Republic on a legal but not constitutional level. Sunningdale collapsed following the ], which cut water and electricity supplies to many homes, and the failure of the British ], ] and the British Prime Minister, ], to defend the power-sharing executive. Supporters of Paisley played an important role in orchestrating the strike. In January 1974, he (Paisley) was subdued and thrown out of the Stormont Assembly by members of the RUC. | |||
Even after the election of ] as MP for ], a part of the mass mobilisation associated with the ] by republican prisoners in the ] of the Maze Prison, Adams was cautious that the level of political involvement by Sinn Féin could lead to electoral embarrassment. ], the ] of ], called ] for June 1981. At an Ard Chomhairle meeting, Adams recommended that they contest only four constituencies which were in ] 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 ] to the ].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nicholas Whyte |title=Northern Ireland Assembly Elections 1982 |url=http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/fa82.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070213021450/http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/fa82.htm |archive-date=13 February 2007 |access-date=1 January 2011 |publisher=Ark.ac.uk}}</ref> Adams, Danny Morrison, Martin McGuinness, ] and ] were elected as abstentionists. The ] (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 ], 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 ] since ] and ] 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>{{Cite news |title=Gerry Adams Fast Facts |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/27/world/europe/gerry-adams-fast-facts/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107004855/http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/27/world/europe/gerry-adams-fast-facts/index.html |archive-date=7 November 2017 |access-date=6 November 2017 |work=CNN}}</ref> | |||
In April 1977 Paisley famously declared he would retire from politics if a forthcoming United Unionist Action Council general strike was unsuccessful. The strike failed, but Paisley did not keep the promise. | |||
===Assassination attempt by the UDA=== | |||
==Political life== | |||
On 14 March 1984 in central Belfast, Adams was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt when ] (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 ], where he underwent surgery to remove three bullets. ] and his team were apprehended almost immediately by a ] patrol that opened fire on them before ramming their car.{{sfn|McDonald|Cusack|2004|p=129}} 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.{{sfn|McDonald|Cusack|2004|pp=129-130}} Some, including Adams himself, still have unanswered questions about the RUC's actions prior to the shooting.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kevin Maguire |date=14 December 2006 |title=Adams wants 1984 shooting probe |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6179789.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070127140434/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6179789.stm |archive-date=27 January 2007 |access-date=22 March 2007 |publisher=BBC}}</ref> An ] NCO subsequently received the ] for chasing and arresting an assailant.<ref>Potter, p. 268.</ref>{{full citation needed|date=April 2024}} | |||
In the ] Paisley was elected ] (MP) for the ] which he has retained ever since and is now the longest serving MP from Northern Ireland. The following year Paisley established the most successful and longest lasting of his political movements, the Democratic Unionist Party which replaced his Protestant Unionist Party. It soon won seats at local council, provincial, national and European level; Paisley was elected one of Northern Ireland's three ] (MEPs) at the first elections to the Brussels and Strasbourg-based ] in 1979, holding a rare, triple mandate, as an MEP, an MP, and a ] (MLA). On his first day he attempted to interrupt the then ] ], but was shouted down by fellow MEPs. In an address by ] to the Parliament in 1988, Paisley accused him of being ] (see ]), repeatedly interrupting his speech by shouting and holding up placards. He was removed from the chamber by other MEPs. He easily retained his seat in every European election until he stood down in 2004, receiving the highest popular vote of any British MEP (although as Northern Ireland uses a different electoral system to Great Britain for European elections, the figures are not strictly comparable)<ref>Your Vote: How it Works, BBC News. 1 June, 2004 </ref>. | |||
==President of Sinn Féin== | |||
The DUP also holds nine seats in the ] and has been elected to each of the Northern Ireland conventions and assemblies set up since the party's creation. For a long time it was the principal challenger to the major ] party, the Ulster Unionist Party (known for a time in the 1970s and 1980s as the ''Official Unionist Party'' (OUP) to distinguish it from the then multitude of other unionist parties, some set up by deposed former leaders). In February 1981 Paisley claimed the UUP were conspiring to kill him.{{cn|date=March 2007}} In December of the same year the United States State Department revoked his visa, citing his "divisive rhetoric". | |||
Many republicans had long claimed that the only legitimate Irish state was the ] declared in the ]. 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 ]) by the last remaining anti-] deputies of the ]. In his 2005 speech to the Sinn Féin ] 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. 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> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608075548/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/politics/docs/sf/ga050305.htm |date=8 June 2011 }} 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.{{sfn|Taylor|1997|p=291}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Anderson |first=Brendan |title=Joe Cahill: A Life in the IRA |publisher=O'Brien Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-86278-836-0 |page=340}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=O'Brien |first=Brendan |author-link=Brendan O'Brien (Irish journalist) |title=The Long War: The IRA and Sinn Féin |publisher=O'Brien Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-86278-606-9 |page=130}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bishop, Patrick |title=The Provisional IRA |last2=Mallie, Eamonn |publisher=Corgi Books |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-552-13337-1 |page=448}}</ref> This minority, which rejected dropping the policy of ], now distinguishes itself from Sinn Féin by using the name ], and maintains that they are the true Sinn Féin. | |||
In the ], the DUP overtook the UUP, achieving thirty seats to the UUP's twenty-seven, and in the ], achieving almost twice their vote share and taking nine seats to the UUP's one (successfully unseating then UUP leader ]). | |||
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 ] were elected to the British House of Commons and ] 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. | |||
=='Ulster says no'== | |||
In the 1980s Paisley, like all the major Unionist leaders, opposed the ] (1985), signed by British Prime Minister ] and ] ] (Prime Minister) Dr. ]. The Agreement provided for an Irish input into the governing of Northern Ireland, through an Anglo-Irish Secretariat based at Maryfield, outside ] and meetings of the Anglo-Irish Conference, co-chaired by the Republic's Minister for Foreign Affairs and Britain's Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. The Unionists objected due to the fact that the Agreement was imposed on the people with no referendum, and to the notion of a foreign government ''"interfering"'' in the affairs of a part of the United Kingdom. ] also objected. | |||
===Voice ban=== | |||
A rally of protesters, numbering an estimated 200,000 people, met in front of ] after a campaign dubbed after its slogan "Ulster Says No". The rally, which was addressed by Paisley and then UUP leader ], passed off peacefully but was ignored by the government. On December 9, 1986, Paisley was once again ejected from the ] for continually interrupting a speech by Thatcher. | |||
Adams's prominence as an Irish republican leader was increased by the ],<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070216115142/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4409447.stm |date=16 February 2007 }}, BBC News, 5 April 2005.</ref> which were imposed by British Prime Minister ] to "starve the terrorist and the hijacker of the oxygen of publicity on which they depend".<ref>Edgerton, Gary , ''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 ] of '']'', a proposed ] discussion programme which in the event was never made.<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050317093432/http://staff.stir.ac.uk/david.miller/news/IrishTimes-94.html |date=17 March 2005 }}, By Michael Foley '']'', 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>{{Cite news |last=FRANKEL |first=GLENN |date=18 November 1990 |title=Britain's Media Ban on Terrorist Groups Remains Controversial : Censorship: Voices of revered statesmen are silenced in history program broadcast to schoolchildren in Northern Ireland. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-11-18-mn-6586-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118045830/http://articles.latimes.com/1990-11-18/news/mn-6586_1_northern-ireland |archive-date=18 November 2018 |access-date=6 November 2017 |work=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US |issn=0458-3035}}</ref> | |||
A similar ban, known as ], 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 ] and ].<ref>{{Cite web |date=22 December 2011 |title=Paul Loughran |url=http://www.ulsteractors.com/l/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016061146/http://www.ulsteractors.com/l/ |archive-date=16 October 2015 |access-date=30 September 2015 |website=Ulsteractors.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Foy |first1=Ken |last2=Murphy |first2=Cormac |date=24 January 2014 |title=Dolours Price, former IRA terrorist and ex-wife of actor Stephen Rea, dies of suspected overdose |url=http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/dolours-price-former-ira-terrorist-and-exwife-of-actor-stephen-rea-dies-of-suspected-overdose-29022340.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925022040/http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/dolours-price-former-ira-terrorist-and-exwife-of-actor-stephen-rea-dies-of-suspected-overdose-29022340.html |archive-date=25 September 2015 |access-date=30 September 2015 |work=Irish Independent}}</ref> This loophole could not be used in the Republic, as word-for-word broadcasts were not allowed.<ref>{{Cite news |date=22 January 2014 |title=BBC News – Twenty years on: The lifting of the ban on broadcasting Sinn Féin |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25843314 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180415093527/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25843314 |archive-date=15 April 2018 |access-date=22 June 2018 |work=BBC News}}</ref> Instead, the banned speaker's words were summarised by the newsreader, over video of them speaking. | |||
In 1985 he and the rest of the Unionist MPs ] at Westminster in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement and were, all but one (], who lost his seat to the ]'s ]), returned in the resulting by-elections. | |||
These bans were lampooned in cartoons and satirical TV shows, such as '']'', and in '']'', and were criticised by ] organisations and media personalities, including BBC Director General ] and BBC foreign editor ]. The Republic's ban was allowed to lapse in January 1994, and the British ban was lifted by Prime Minister ] in September 1994.<ref>{{Cite news |title=CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1994 |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch94.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190102135434/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch94.htm |archive-date=2 January 2019 |access-date=5 May 2014 |work=Conflict Archive on the Internet |publisher=University of Ulster}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=17 September 1994 |title=Britain Ends Broadcast Ban on Irish Extremists : Negotiations: Prime Minister Major also backs referendum on Northern Ireland's fate. Both moves indicate desire to move ahead on peace plan |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-09-17-mn-39492-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131218125551/http://articles.latimes.com/1994-09-17/news/mn-39492_1_northern-ireland |archive-date=18 December 2013 |access-date=5 May 2014 |work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> | |||
In 1995 he played a part in the first standoff over marching at ], County Armagh between the ] and local residents of the Garvaghy Road. The march passed off after the decision was made by the ] (RUC) to allow it and Paisley ended the march hand in hand with ] who appeared to perform a "]". This "Victory Jig" was seen by some as an act of ].<ref>The "Victory Jig" appears to have discredited Trimble in the longrun to the benefit of Dr. Paisley. See comments on the "Victory Jig" . See video of the controversial march through the area and "Victory Jig" in the 1995 section .</ref> | |||
==Movement into mainstream politics== | |||
==The Belfast Agreement== | |||
] ] in 1995]] | |||
Paisley's DUP was initially involved in the negotiations under former ] ] that led to the ] of 1998. However the party withdrew in protest when ], a ] party with links to the ],<ref> 10 Downing Street website.</ref> was allowed to participate after its ceasefire. Paisley and his party opposed the Agreement in the referendum that followed its signing, and which saw it approved by over 70% of the voters in Northern Ireland and by over 90% of voters in the Republic of Ireland. | |||
Sinn Féin continued its policy of refusing to sit in the ] after Adams won the Belfast West constituency. He lost his seat to ] of the SDLP in the ],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cook |first=Bernard A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P7-2AgAAQBAJ&q=gerry+adams+lost+his+seat+to+Joe+Hendron+of+the+Social+Democratic+and+Labour+Party+%28SDLP%29&pg=PT688 |title=Europe Since 1945: An Encyclopedia |date=27 January 2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781135179328 |language=en |access-date=25 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310214610/https://books.google.com/books?id=P7-2AgAAQBAJ&q=gerry+adams+lost+his+seat+to+Joe+Hendron+of+the+Social+Democratic+and+Labour+Party+%28SDLP%29&pg=PT688 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> regaining it at the following ]. Under Adams, Sinn Féin moved away from being a political voice of the Provisional IRA to becoming a professionally organised political party in both ] and the Republic of Ireland. | |||
SDLP leader ] 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 ] under the ], ], and with the government of the Republic under Charles Haughey – although both governments maintained in public that they would not negotiate with terrorists.{{citation needed|date=October 2015}} These talks provided the groundwork for what was later to be the ], preceded by the milestone ] and the ].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Albert |first=Cornelia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B0Djz3Aq_7IC&q=Belfast+Agreement%2C+preceded+by+the+milestone+Downing+Street+Declaration+and+the+Joint+Framework+Document.&pg=PA47 |title=The Peacebuilding Elements of the Belfast Agreement and the Transformation of the Northern Ireland Conflict |date=2009 |publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=9783631585917 |language=en |access-date=25 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310214531/https://books.google.com/books?id=B0Djz3Aq_7IC&q=Belfast+Agreement%2C+preceded+by+the+milestone+Downing+Street+Declaration+and+the+Joint+Framework+Document.&pg=PA47 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
Although Paisley often stresses his loyalty to the ], he accused ] of being ]'s "parrot" when she voiced approval of the Agreement. The claim is reflective of the fact that in the United Kingdom the Monarch is obliged to reflect the position of the government and is not permitted to publicly contradict official government policy. | |||
These negotiations led to the IRA ceasefire in August 1994. Taoiseach ], who had replaced Haughey and who had played a key role in the Hume/Adams dialogue through his Special Advisor ], 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 ] (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 ]. Sinn Féin's exclusion led the IRA to end its ceasefire and resume its campaign.<ref>{{Cite news |title=When peace almost died of exhaustion |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/news/when-peace-almost-died-of-exhaustion-1.90029 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151004133751/http://www.irishtimes.com/news/when-peace-almost-died-of-exhaustion-1.90029 |archive-date=4 October 2015 |access-date=3 October 2015 |newspaper=]}}</ref> | |||
As part of the deal, the Republic altered the controversial ], which had originally claimed its government's ''de jure'' right to govern the whole island of Ireland, including Northern Ireland. | |||
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 ], produce the ] in 1998.<ref name="eb" /> Under the Agreement, structures were created reflecting the Irish and British identities of the people of Ireland, creating a ] and a ].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Good Friday Agreement {{!}} British-Irish history |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Good-Friday-Agreement |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107032336/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Good-Friday-Agreement |archive-date=7 November 2017 |access-date=6 November 2017 |work=Encyclopædia Britannica |language=en}}</ref> | |||
The DUP fought the resulting election to the ], to which Paisley was elected, while keeping his seats in the Westminster and European parliaments. The DUP took two seats in the multi-party power-sharing executive (Paisley, like the leaders of the ] and ] chose not to become a minister) but those DUP members serving as ministers (] and ]) refused to attend meetings of the Executive Committee (cabinet) in protest at Sinn Féin's participation. | |||
<!-- Image with unknown copyright status removed: ] and Ian Paisley outside Belfast's high court having won a legal challenge over assembly elections in November 2001.]] --> | |||
] of the ], 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 ]-based Assembly and running the education and health and social services ministries in the power-sharing government. | |||
The Executive ultimately was suspended over unionist unhappiness on the nature of Provisional IRA disarmament.{{cn|date=March 2007}} By the same token, the ] and Sinn Féin wouldn't move to decommission because it felt that other parties, notably the Unionists and the ], were slow in implementing other areas of the Agreement, such as demilitarisation and policing reform, that were of great importance to republicans. The alleged discovery of a Republican spy network operating among civil servants in the seat of government and parliament, led to the UUP's decision to suspend the institutions created under the Belfast Agreement. | |||
===Sinn Féin in government=== | |||
While the Agreement has not been scrapped, its institutions remain suspended, principally pending a resolution on the issue of policing. The DUP had repeatedly pledged to destroy the Agreement, however since becoming the leading Unionist Party, they have backed it with the ']' (December 2004) where the principles of the Belfast Agreement where upheld. | |||
] ] and ] in 2001]] | |||
On 15 August 1998, four months after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, the ] by the ], killed 29 people and injured 220, from many 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">{{Cite news |date=16 August 1998 |title=Sinn Féin condemnation 'unequivocal' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/events/northern_ireland/latest_news/151949.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170314110520/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/events/northern_ireland/latest_news/151949.stm |archive-date=14 March 2017 |access-date=10 August 2020 |publisher=BBC}}</ref> Prior to this, Adams had not used the word "condemn" in relation to IRA or their splinter groups' actions.<ref name="bbc" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=17 August 1998 |title=Adams's condemnation further isolates dissidents |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/adams-s-condemnation-further-isolates-dissidents-1.183686 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202231437/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/adams-s-condemnation-further-isolates-dissidents-1.183686 |archive-date=2 December 2020 |access-date=10 August 2020 |publisher=Irish Times}}</ref> | |||
In March 2007, Adams was re-elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in March 2007, and subsequently met with DUP leader ] face-to-face for the first time. These talks led to the ], which brought about the return of the power-sharing Executive in Northern Ireland.<ref>{{Cite news |date=26 March 2007 |title=May date for return to devolution |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6494599.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070401031536/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6494599.stm |archive-date=1 April 2007 |access-date=26 March 2007 |publisher=BBC}}</ref> When Sinn Féin came to nominate its two ministers to the ], for tactical reasons the party, like the SDLP and the DUP, chose not to include its leader among its ministers. | |||
On ] ], Ian Paisley refused Sinn Féin's nomination to be ]. | |||
In January 2009, Adams attended the United States presidential ] as a guest of US Congressman ].<ref>19/Jan/2009 ''The Daily Telegraph''.</ref> | |||
On ] in ], following ] parades, Ian Paisley made a public comment referring to co-operating with Sinn Féin. "They are not fit to be in partnership with decent people. They are not fit to be in the government of Northern Ireland and it will be over our dead bodies if they ever get there."<ref> BBC News</ref> | |||
===Election to Dáil Éireann=== | |||
==Religious views== | |||
Adams was re-elected as MP for West Belfast with 71.1% of the vote in May 2010,<ref>{{Cite news |date=7 May 2010 |title=Election 2010 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/election2010/results/constituency/704.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505132756/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/election2010/results/constituency/704.stm |archive-date=5 May 2021 |access-date=7 May 2010 |publisher=BBC}}</ref> but resigned his seat the following December,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Northern Ireland Assembly Information Office |title=NI Assembly membership, note 17 |url=http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/members/membership07.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117060753/http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/members/membership07.htm |archive-date=17 November 2007 |access-date=1 January 2011 |publisher=Niassembly.gov.uk}}</ref> in order to seek election as a ] (member of Irish Parliament) for the constituency of ] at the ].<ref>{{Cite news |date=14 November 2010 |title=Adams to contest Co Louth seat for SF in next election |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/1114/breaking2.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101122014644/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/1114/breaking2.html |archive-date=22 November 2010 |access-date=14 November 2010 |newspaper=The Irish Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=20 January 2011 |title=Gerry Adams quits Westminster seat |url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/gerry-adams-quits-westminster-seat-15059866.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120729210027/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/gerry-adams-quits-westminster-seat-15059866.html |archive-date=29 July 2012 |access-date=24 January 2011 |website=The Belfast Telegraph}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=20 January 2011 |title=Gerry Adams resigns as West Belfast MP |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-12246725 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110123020018/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-12246725 |archive-date=23 January 2011 |access-date=24 January 2011 |publisher=BBC}}</ref> He topped the poll in the consistuency with 15,072 (21.7%) first preference votes,<ref>{{Cite news |date=28 February 2011 |title=Louth – RTÉ News |url=http://www.rte.ie/news/election2011/results/louth.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110228221707/http://www.rte.ie/news/election2011/results/louth.html |archive-date=28 February 2011 |access-date=6 March 2011 |publisher=Raidió Teilifís Éireann}}</ref> and was duly elected to Dáil Éireann where he succeeded ] as Sinn Féin parliamentary leader.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gerry Adams |url=http://bigthink.com/experts/gerryadams |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107010608/http://bigthink.com/experts/gerryadams |archive-date=7 November 2017 |access-date=6 November 2017 |website=Big Think}}</ref> | |||
Paisley promotes a highly conservative form of biblical literalism, which he describes as "Bible Protestantism." The website of Paisley's public relations arm, the European Institute of Protestant Studies (ianpaisley.org), describes the Institute's purpose as to "expound the Bible, expose the Papacy, and to promote, defend and maintain Bible Protestantism in Europe and further afield." Paisley's website describes a number of doctrinal areas in which he believes that the "Roman church" has deviated from the Bible and thus from true Christianity. These include the doctrine of ], which Paisley claims on his website has given rise to "revolting superstitions and idolatrous abuses," the veneration of saints and the ] (excessive and not biblically supported, in Paisley's view), and the institution of the Papacy, which Paisley believes has no biblical foundation. | |||
In December 2013, Adams was a member of the ] at ]'s funeral.<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 December 2013 |title=Gerry Adams picked for guard of honour for Mandela |url=https://www.thejournal.ie/gerry-adams-guard-of-honour-nelson-mandela-1222286-Dec2013/ |access-date=1 February 2021 |website=The Journal}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=19 December 2013 |title=Madiba's legacy of hope – Gerry Adams on being at the funeral of Nelson Mandela |url=https://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/23628/ |access-date=1 February 2021 |website=An Phoblacht}}</ref> | |||
On social/cultural issues, Paisley's views are similar to those of such American fundamentalists as ] and ]. He rejects ]'s theory of evolution by natural selection in favor of biblical ]. He preaches against ] and supports laws criminalising its practice. He and his organisation have publicly spoken out against what he views to be blasphemy in popular culture, including criticism of the stage productions '']'' and '']''. On at least one issue, Paisley shares views with his Catholic counterparts; he opposes legal ]. | |||
===2014 arrest=== | |||
Depite his anti-Catholicism, there is evidence that Paisley has attracted a small number of Catholic votes in his Westminster and European constituencies.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199900/ldhansrd/pdvn/lds06/text/61016-0004.htm#06101616000042 |title=House of Lords Hansard for 16 Oct 2006 ( pt 1 ) |accessday=30 |accessmonth =March |accessyear=2007 |year=2006 |month=October |quote=My Lords, I cannot comment on that, but I pay tribute to the work of the noble Lord. I am told that the people of Rathlin Island vote to a man and woman for the leader of the DUP, because he got them electricity as a constituency Member, so he is definitely in their favour.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.belfasttoday.net/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=6279&ArticleID=2066260 |title=Belfast Today for all your local news |accessday=30 |accessmonth =March |accessyear=2007 |year=2007 |month=March |publisher=Johnston Press Digital Publishing |quote=There has even been strong evidence that a number of Catholic voters in the area vote for Ian Paisley and the DUP.}}</ref> Though often at political odds with the ], he has some religious followers in the Republic.{{cn|date=April 2007}} It was specifically in his religious capacity that he first agreed to meet the ], ]. Paisley revised this stance in September 2004, when he agreed to meet Ahern in his political capacity as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party. Known for a sense of humour, at an early meeting with Ahern at the Irish embassy in ], Paisley requested breakfast and asked for boiled eggs; when Ahern asked him why he had wanted boiled eggs, Paisley quipped "it would be hard for you to poison them", much to Ahern's amusement.<ref>http://www.ianpaisley.org/article.asp?printerFriendly=true&ArtKey=ballymena</ref> | |||
On 30 April 2014, Adams was arrested by detectives from the ] (PSNI) Serious Crime Branch, under the ], in connection with the ] in 1972.<ref>{{Cite news |last=O'Connell |first=Hugh |date=2 May 2014 |title=The PSNI have been granted an extra 48 hours to question Gerry Adams |url=http://www.thejournal.ie/gerry-adams-sinn-fein-arrest-1445393-May2014/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140528005815/http://www.thejournal.ie/gerry-adams-sinn-fein-arrest-1445393-May2014/ |archive-date=28 May 2014 |access-date=27 May 2014 |work=thejournal.ie}}</ref> He had previously voluntarily arranged to be interviewed by police regarding the matter,<ref>{{Cite news |last=McDonald |first=Henry |date=30 April 2014 |title=Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams held over 1972 Jean McConville killing |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/apr/30/gerry-adams-held-jean-mconville-killing |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140501075314/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/apr/30/gerry-adams-held-jean-mconville-killing |archive-date=1 May 2014 |access-date=30 April 2014 |work=The Guardian |location=London}}</ref> and maintained he had no involvement.<ref name="BBC McConville">{{Cite news |date=30 April 2014 |title=Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams held over Jean McConville murder |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27232731 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140430235109/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27232731 |archive-date=30 April 2014 |access-date=30 April 2014 |work=BBC News |location=London}}</ref> Fellow Sinn Féin politician ] 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>{{Cite news |last=Beaton |first=Connor |date=30 April 2014 |title=SF MLA: Adams arrest 'negative PSNI agenda' |url=http://thetarge.co.uk/article/current-affairs/0258/sinn-fein-mla-adams-arrest-negative-psni-agenda |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201007203220/http://thetarge.co.uk/article/current-affairs/0258/sinn-fein-mla-adams-arrest-negative-psni-agenda |archive-date=7 October 2020 |access-date=30 April 2014 |publisher=The Targe}}</ref> McConville's family had campaigned for the arrest of Adams for the murder.<ref>'' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920222447/http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/gerry-adams-sinn-fein-leader-3480389 |date=20 September 2016 }}''</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 ], which would decide if criminal charges should be brought.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181024113939/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-27232731 |date=24 October 2018 }}. BBC News. 30 April 2014.</ref><ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140505073500/http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/shadow-of-jean-mcconville-murder-still-hangs-over-gerry-adams-and-sinn-fein-30244125.html |date=5 May 2014 }} Irish Independent, 5 May 2014.</ref><ref name="Adams released">{{Cite news |date=4 May 2014 |title=Adams released without charge |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-27278039 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140504230216/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-27278039 |archive-date=4 May 2014 |access-date=4 May 2014 |publisher=BBC}}</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>{{Cite news |date=4 May 2014 |title=BBC News – Gerry Adams freed in Jean McConville murder inquiry |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27278039 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180727120602/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27278039 |archive-date=27 July 2018 |access-date=22 June 2018 |work=BBC 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">{{Cite web |date=6 May 2014 |title=Gerry Adams denies McConville son 'backlash threat' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27280446 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140511043534/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27280446 |archive-date=11 May 2014 |access-date=11 May 2014 |publisher=BBC |quote=The Sinn Fein president was questioned for four days in connection with the murder of Jean McConville and membership of the IRA.He has strongly denied all those allegations. ... He again said he was innocent of any involvement in Mrs McConville's murder.}}</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">{{Cite news |date=29 September 2015 |title=Gerry Adams will not face charges over Jean McConville murder |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/29/gerry-adams-will-not-face-trial-over-jean-mcconville |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160606111618/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/29/gerry-adams-will-not-face-trial-over-jean-mcconville |archive-date=6 June 2016 |access-date=22 June 2016 |work=The Guardian}}</ref> as had been expected ever since a ] report dated 6 May 2014 (2 days after the BBC reported his release),<ref name="BBC-Insuff01">{{Cite web |date=6 May 2014 |title=Gerry Adams denies McConville son 'backlash threat' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27280446 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140511043534/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27280446 |archive-date=11 May 2014 |access-date=11 May 2014 |publisher=BBC |quote=BBC News understands there was insufficient evidence to charge Mr Adams with any offence.}}</ref> which was widely repeated elsewhere.<ref name="Mirror-Insuff01">{{Cite news |last=Anthony Bond, Sam Adams |date=6 May 2014 |title="Insufficient evidence" to 'pursue prosecution of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams' |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/gerry-adams-arrest-insufficient-evidence-3501200 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140507105217/http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/gerry-adams-arrest-insufficient-evidence-3501200 |archive-date=7 May 2014 |access-date=11 May 2014 |work=] |quote=No charges would be brought against Mr Adams unless significant new evidence comes to light, according to reports ... There is "insufficient evidence" to pursue a prosecution against Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams in relation to the 1972 murder of Jean McConville, according to reports. The BBC said it understood that no charges would be brought against Mr Adams unless significant new evidence comes to light.}}</ref> | |||
Paisley, an ardent ] all his life, has sometimes asked journalists and nationalist politicians "let me smell your breath" when they asked him tough questions, insinuating that they had taken on board some alcohol, or "devil's buttermilk" as he often puts it. | |||
===Late presidency=== | |||
==Relationship with the SDLP== | |||
] at the Sinn Féin ardfheis in March 2015]] | |||
On 19 May 2015, while on an official royal trip to Ireland, ] 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"> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150521013218/http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/may/19/prince-charles-and-gerry-adams-share-historic-handshake |date=21 May 2015 }} 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 ], at which point Sinn Féin would begin a "planned process of generational change, including 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 ] in the ].<ref>{{Cite news |date=5 September 2017 |title=Sinn Fein's Adams to outline succession plan in November |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ireland-politics-adams/sinn-feins-adams-to-outline-succession-plan-in-november-idUSKCN1BG1DA |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905144320/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ireland-politics-adams/sinn-feins-adams-to-outline-succession-plan-in-november-idUSKCN1BG1DA |archive-date=5 September 2017 |access-date=5 September 2017 |work=]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=McDonald |first=Henry |date=5 September 2017 |title=Gerry Adams signals intention to stand down as Sinn Féin leader |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/sep/05/gerry-adams-signals-intention-to-stand-down-as-sinn-fein-leader |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905133150/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/sep/05/gerry-adams-signals-intention-to-stand-down-as-sinn-fein-leader |archive-date=5 September 2017 |access-date=5 September 2017 |work=]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Downing |first=John |date=5 September 2017 |title=Gerry Adams will seek re-election as Sinn Féin leader and then set out plans to step down |url=http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/gerry-adams-will-seek-reelection-as-sinn-fin-leader-and-then-set-out-plans-to-step-down-36101620.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905123826/http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/gerry-adams-will-seek-reelection-as-sinn-fin-leader-and-then-set-out-plans-to-step-down-36101620.html |archive-date=5 September 2017 |access-date=5 September 2017 |work=]}}</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" /> | |||
From the 1960s, one of his main rivals was civil rights leader and co-founder of the nationalist SDLP, ]. Though their parties are often at loggerheads, Hume and Paisley worked jointly on behalf of Northern Ireland in the ] and on occasion worked jointly in the ]. Indeed the complexity of their relationship was demonstrated when it was discovered that Hume had visited Paisley's home to dine with Ian and his wife, Eileen, on ] one year in the 1990s. When Hume resigned the leadership of the SDLP, Paisley gave very warm praise of "John" and a very accurate estimation of how difficult the SDLP would find it to fill the void left by the departing leader.{{cn|date=March 2007}} Some suggested that the comments by Paisley were given because he thought he was just chatting to journalists and that the TV cameras weren't on.{{cn|date=March 2007}} The sight of an affable, low-key Paisley at that moment contrasted with the usual media image of the forceful, loud, aggressive Paisley people were used to seeing. | |||
===End of Sinn Féin presidency=== | |||
] tells the story of the occasion when he said to Ian Paisley, "Ian, if the word 'no' were to be removed from the English language, you'd be speechless, wouldn't you!" Paisley replied, "No, I wouldn't!" | |||
], pictured here in 2014]] | |||
Adams' presidency of Sinn Féin ended on 10 February 2018, with his stepping down and the election of ] as the party's new president.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180210183926/https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2018/0210/939695-sinn-fein-leadership/ |date=10 February 2018 }}. 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 ] and Sinn Féin official ]. In a press conference the following day, Adams said he thought the attacks were linked to the ], and asked that those responsible "come and sit down" and "give us the rationale for this action".<ref>{{Cite news |title=Gerry Adams demands bombers who attacked his house explain why |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/gerry-adams-derry-riots-sinn-fein-explosive-device-northern-ireland-a8447151.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180714164522/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/gerry-adams-derry-riots-sinn-fein-explosive-device-northern-ireland-a8447151.html |archive-date=14 July 2018 |access-date=24 July 2018 |work=The Independent}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Ainsworth |first=Paul |date=16 July 2018 |title=Video: CCTV captures attack on Gerry Adams' home |url=https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2018/07/16/news/belfast-rally-to-show-support-for-gerry-adams-following-attack-on-home-1382981/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716175514/https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2018/07/16/news/belfast-rally-to-show-support-for-gerry-adams-following-attack-on-home-1382981/ |archive-date=16 July 2018 |access-date=24 July 2018 |work=The Irish News |language=en}}</ref> | |||
Having spent most of his career, as he himself jokingly admitted once, saying 'No', Paisley assumed the chairmanship of the Agriculture committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly created by the Belfast Agreement, where he was praised (even by Sinn Féin members with whom he worked) as an effective, co-ordinating chairman. The Minister for Agriculture, Nationalist SDLP's ], remarked that she and Paisley had a "workmanlike" relationship. | |||
==Personal life== | |||
==Defender or demagogue?== | |||
{{republicanism sidebar}} | |||
His critics see his work in the European Parliament and in Stormont of late and argue that he could have been, had he so wished, one of the greatest ''builders'' of a new inclusive Northern Ireland. To his supporters, Ian Kyle Paisley is seen as a passionate and brilliant defender of the union between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. They argue that he stood up for unionists who were under attack from nationalists from the Republic of Ireland and from British governments willing to give away "unionist rights" and ignore unionist fears to placate ] and the ]. To some, he is seen as the wrecker whose extremism almost destroyed Northern Ireland. To others, Ian Paisley is the great defender, the protector who saved Northern Ireland from "]" and "] rule". | |||
In 1971, Adams married Collette McArdle.<ref>{{Cite news |last=McKittrick |first=David |date=10 April 2006 |title=Gerry Adams: 'The war is over for me ... but is it over for Ian Paisley?' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/gerry-adams-the-war-is-over-for-me-but-is-it-over-for-ian-paisley-6104043.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200630221116/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/gerry-adams-the-war-is-over-for-me-but-is-it-over-for-ian-paisley-6104043.html |archive-date=30 June 2020 |access-date=18 May 2020 |work=The Independent}}</ref> Their son Gearoid was born in 1973,{{sfn|Moloney|2002|p=129}} went on to play ] for ] senior men's team and became its assistant manager in 2012.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140508030029/http://hoganstand.com/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=176829 |date=8 May 2014 }} HoganStand, 5 September 2012.</ref> | |||
In 2013, Adams' brother Liam ] of 10 offences, including ] and ] committed against his own daughter.<ref name="bbc-news-verdict">{{Cite news |date=1 October 2013 |title=Liam Adams convicted of raping and abusing daughter |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-24348798 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131001155725/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-24348798 |archive-date=1 October 2013 |access-date=1 October 2013 |work=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=McDonald |first=Henry |date=1 October 2013 |title=Liam Adams found guilty of raping his eldest daughter |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/oct/01/liam-adams-guilty-raping-oldest-daughter |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131001175555/http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/oct/01/liam-adams-guilty-raping-oldest-daughter |archive-date=1 October 2013 |access-date=1 October 2013 |work=The Guardian}}</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>{{Cite news |date=20 December 2009 |title=Sinn Féin's Gerry Adams reveals family abuse history |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8423357.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923170528/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8423357.stm |archive-date=23 September 2021 |access-date=20 December 2009 |publisher=The BBC}}</ref><ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024043509/http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/1220/adams.html |date=24 October 2012 }}. ]. Sunday, 20 December 2009. Audio interview also available from that page.</ref> Liam was jailed for 16 years,<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724224502/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25122804 |date=24 July 2020 }}, BBC News, 27 November 2013.</ref> and died of ] in February 2019 at the age of 63 while in ].<ref>{{Cite news |date=6 October 2021 |title=Liam Adams: 'No missed or delayed diagnosis' in sex offender's death |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-58807705 |work=BBC News}}</ref> | |||
To his opponents however, including some unionists, Paisley is seen as a demagogue, a crude rabble-rouser who spent his political career saying 'no' and being passed by; "no" to O'Neill's reform, "no" to contacts with the Republic, "no" to Sunningdale, "no" to the convention, "no" to James Prior's ''rolling devolution'', "no" to the ], "no" to the Belfast Agreement. By them he is seen as a uniquely destructive influence whose extremism lost potential friends and helped alienate people outside Northern Ireland sympathetic to unionism. In the 1980s, the ]'s ] described Paisley as a ].{{cn|date=March 2007}} Former members of ] paramilitary groups on ceasefire because of the Belfast Agreement verbally attacked Paisley at one press conference, saying that as impressionable teenagers they had been attracted to extreme loyalism by his violent and provocative speeches, blaming him for much of the violence that resulted.{{cn|date=March 2007}} Paisley has never accepted any culpability for any violence, despite his many fiery speeches, which often presented the political conflict in stark ] terms as a ] battle between good and evil (see ]). | |||
In 2016, Adams sparked controversy by posting "Watching '']''—A Ballymurphy Nigger!" on social media.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams apologises for racial slur |url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/sinn-fein-leader-gerry-adams-tweets-racial-slur-011315030.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160503160455/https://www.yahoo.com/news/sinn-fein-leader-gerry-adams-tweets-racial-slur-011315030.html |archive-date=3 May 2016 |access-date=16 May 2016 |website=www.yahoo.com}}</ref> This was widely reported,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gerry Adams, Sinn Fein president, tweets N-word |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/may/1/gerry-adams-sinn-fein-president-tweets-n-word/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160504172537/http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/may/1/gerry-adams-sinn-fein-president-tweets-n-word/ |archive-date=4 May 2016 |access-date=16 May 2016 |website=]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bailey |first=Issac |date=2 May 2016 |title=Facing the consequences of using the N-word |url=http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/02/opinions/n-word-double-standard-debate-bailey/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160511233651/http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/02/opinions/n-word-double-standard-debate-bailey/index.html |archive-date=11 May 2016 |access-date=16 May 2016 |website=CNN}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Adams Apologises For Using 'N-Word' In Tweet |url=http://news.sky.com/story/1688589/adams-apologises-for-using-n-word-in-tweet |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505095258/http://news.sky.com/story/1688589/adams-apologises-for-using-n-word-in-tweet |archive-date=5 May 2016 |access-date=16 May 2016 |website=Sky News |language=en-GB}}</ref> and Adams deleted it and apologised.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2 May 2016 |title=Adams admits N-word tweet 'was inappropriate' |url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2016/0502/785601-gerry-adams-tweet/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505063209/http://www.rte.ie/news/2016/0502/785601-gerry-adams-tweet/ |archive-date=5 May 2016 |access-date=16 May 2016 |website=RTÉ.ie}}</ref> | |||
In September 2005, he was criticised for stoking unionist violence in Belfast over the 75-metre diversion of a provocative Orange Order march along a thoroughfare serving as a boundary between nationalist and unionist communities. Quoted by '']'' newspaper, he called the diversion "the spark which kindles a fire there could be no putting out"<ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,1567926,00.html</ref>. Widespread loyalist riots followed, producing, among other results, what Northern Ireland secretary Peter Hain called "serious attempts to kill police in some instances".<ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,1568084,00.html</ref> | |||
==Media portrayals== | |||
==Campaign against homosexuality== | |||
Adams has been portrayed in a number of films, TV series, and books: | |||
{{main|Save Ulster from Sodomy}} | |||
* 1999 – '']'', a spy fiction novel by ]. | |||
* 2004 – film '']'', with actor ], a dramatisation of the 1998 ] and its aftermath. | |||
* 2010 – TV film '']'', with actor ], the story of ] and the ]. | |||
* 2012 – ''The Cold Cold Ground'', a crime novel by ]; Adams is interviewed by the book's main character after an associate is found murdered. | |||
* 2016 – film '']'', with actor ].<ref>{{Cite news |date=29 July 2016 |title=It's all eyes on the 73rd Venice Film Festival |url=http://www.breakingnews.ie/showbiz/its-all-eyes-on-the-73rd-venice-film-festival-747224.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107004403/http://www.breakingnews.ie/showbiz/its-all-eyes-on-the-73rd-venice-film-festival-747224.html |archive-date=7 November 2017 |access-date=6 November 2017 |work=Breaking News}}</ref> | |||
* 2017 – film '']'', with actor ] playing a former IRA leader who resembles Adams.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Pierce Brosnan channels Gerry Adams in new IRA thriller The Foreigner |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/pierce-brosnan-channels-gerry-adams-in-new-ira-thriller-the-foreigner-1.3134256 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107005236/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/pierce-brosnan-channels-gerry-adams-in-new-ira-thriller-the-foreigner-1.3134256 |archive-date=7 November 2017 |access-date=6 November 2017 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en-US}}</ref> | |||
* 2024 - TV series '']'', with actors ] and ].<ref>{{cite web|url= https://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/film-tv/cast-revealed-for-tv-adaptation-of-book-about-troubles-and-jean-mcconville-disappearance/a2092277147.html|website=Belfast Telegraph|accessdate=11 November 2024|date=2 February 2024|title= Cast revealed for TV adaptation of book about Troubles and Jean McConville disappearance|first=Kurtis|last=Reid}}</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>{{cite web|url=https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a62900939/say-nothing-true-story-explained/|title=Say Nothing: Who Were the Real Dolours and Marian Price?|publisher=Elle|author=Emma Fraser|date=15 November 2024|access-date=15 November 2024}}</ref> | |||
==Published works== | |||
''"Save Ulster from Sodomy"'' was a campaign launched by Paisley in 1977, in opposition to the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform (Northern Ireland), established in 1974. Paisley's campaign sought to prevent the extension to Northern Ireland of the ] which had decriminalised homosexual acts between males over 21 years of age in ] and ]. The campaign failed when legislation was passed in 1982 as a result of the previous year's ruling by the ] in the case of ].<ref>Stonewall timeline of Gay & Lesbian history available .</ref> | |||
* ''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, {{ISBN|978-0-86322-114-9}} | |||
* ''The Street and Other Stories'', 1993, Brandon Books, {{ISBN|978-0-86322-293-1}} | |||
* ''Free Ireland: Towards a Lasting Peace'', 1995 | |||
* ''Before the Dawn: An Autobiography'', 1996, Brandon Books, {{ISBN|978-0-434-00341-9}} | |||
* ''Selected Writings'' | |||
* ''Who Fears to Speak...?'', 2001 (Original Edition 1991), Beyond the Pale Publications, {{ISBN|978-1-900960-13-7}} | |||
* ''An Irish Journal'', 2001, Brandon Books, {{ISBN|978-0-86322-282-5}} | |||
* ''Hope and History: Making Peace in Ireland'', 2003, Brandon Books, {{ISBN|978-0-86322-330-3}} | |||
* ''A Farther Shore'', 2005, Random House | |||
* ''The New Ireland: A Vision For The Future'', 2005, Brandon Books, {{ISBN|978-0-86322-344-0}} | |||
* ''An Irish Eye'', 2007, Brandon Books, {{ISBN|978-0-86322-370-9}} | |||
* ''My Little Book of Tweets'', 2016, Mercier Press, {{ISBN|978-1-78117-449-4}} | |||
==References== | |||
== 2004 illness and beyond == | |||
{{Reflist|30em}} | |||
In an attempt to quell rumours of a serious or terminal illness, Paisley's family stated in July 2004 that he had been undergoing tests. The family declined to indicate the nature of the suspected illness, citing privacy. In 2005, ] confirmed that his father had been gravely ill in 2004 and suggested that his family had prepared for what they feared was his impending death. Ian Paisley confirmed in 2006 that he has made a full recovery from his illness. | |||
==Works cited== | |||
Paisley has aged noticeably in recent years. He has lowered his political profile, instead devoting much of his time to working with his church on the missions in Africa, where he has some followers. At the age of 78 he retired his ] seat at the ] and was succeeded by ]. However he retained his ] seat in the ], celebrating his win in the traditional manner by singing a hymn in the count centre. In 2005 Paisley was made a ], a post to which he became entitled as leader of the fourth largest political party in the British Parliament.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4363746.stm</ref> In February 2006, he said he never intends to retire from politics.{{cn|date=March 2007}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last1=McDonald |first1=Henry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HLufAAAAMAAJ&q=UDA+%E2%80%93+Inside+the+Heart+of+Loyalist+Terror |title=UDA: Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror |last2=Cusack |first2=Jim |publisher=Penguin Ireland |year=2004|isbn=978-1-84488-020-1 }} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Moloney |first=Ed |author-link=Ed Moloney |title=A Secret History of the IRA |publisher=] |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-14-101041-0 |page=38}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last1=Sharrock |first1=David |title=Man of War, Man of Peace The Unauthorised Biography of Gerry Adams |last2=Devenport |first2=Mark |date=1997 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-330-35396-0 |location=London |pages=155 |language=en}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Taylor (Journalist) |title=Provos The IRA & Sinn Féin |publisher=] |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-7475-3818-9 |page=140}} | |||
==Further reading== | |||
== St Andrews Agreement == | |||
On ] ], Paisley gave his provisional assent to the ], by which Sinn Féin would fully accept the ] (PSNI), and the Democratic Unionist Party would agree to become a full part of the Northern Ireland Executive. Paisley left immediately after speaking to the press conference for his fiftieth wedding anniversary. Since then, Paisley has indicated that his party ''"would not be found wanting"'' if Sinn Féin gives formal support to policing in Northern Ireland. Sinn Féin did endorse the PSNI, and in the ] Paisley and the DUP received an increased share of the vote and increased their assembly seats from 30 to 36. On Monday ] ], the date of the British Government deadline for devolution or dissolution, Paisley led a DUP delegation to a meeting with a Sinn Fein delegation led by ] which agreed on a DUP proposal that the executive would be established on ] after a delay of six weeks. | |||
* {{Cite web |last=de Bréadún |first=Deaglán |author-link=Deaglán de Bréadún |date=22 January 2018 |title=Gerry Adams – the face of Irish republicanism – hands over at Sinn Féin |url=https://www.wikitribune.com/story/2018/01/22/ireland/gerry-adams-the-face-of-irish-nationalism-hands-over-at-sinn-fein/40230/ |website=]}} | |||
== Family == | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Keena |first=Colm |title=Biography of Gerry Adams |publisher=Mercier Press |year=1990 |location=Cork}} | |||
Ian Paisley married his wife ] (née Cassells) on ] ]. It was announced on the ] ] that Eileen would be one of three DUP politicians to be created a ]. She sits as a ] in the ]. They have five children, twin sons, Kyle and ], and three daughters including ]. Three of their children have followed their father into politics or religion: Kyle, into the church; Ian is a DUP assemblyman; and daughter Rhonda a retired DUP councillor and artist. He has a brother, Harold, who currently preaches the Gospel in the United States and Canada. | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Keefe |first=Patrick Radden |title=Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland |publisher=Doubleday New York |year=2019}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Randolph |first=Jody Allen |title=Close to the Next Moment: Interviews from a Changing Ireland |publisher=Carcanet |year=2010 |isbn=9781847770486 |location=Manchester |chapter=Gerry Adams, August 2009}} | |||
== Trivia == | |||
*In 1988, when ] delivered a speech to the ], Paisley shouted "I Denounce you as the ]!" and held up a red poster reading "Pope John Paul II ANTICHRIST" in black letters. John Paul continued with his address after Paisley was ejected from the auditorium.<ref>{{cite news|last=MacDonald|first=Susan|title=Paisley ejected for insulting Pope|publisher=]|date=]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Chrisafis|first=Angelique|title=The Return of Dr. No|publisher=]|date=] }}</ref><ref>http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE7DC1630F935A25753C1A96E948260</ref> <ref>http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/ulster/article1826297.ece</ref> | |||
{{main|Denunciation of Pope John Paul II by Ian Paisley}} | |||
* Paisley has claimed in an article that the seat no. 666 in the ] is reserved for the Antichrist.<ref>http://www.ianpaisley.org/article.asp?ArtKey=666</ref> | |||
* Paisley and Gerry Adams are both mentioned in "Don't Blame Me", a song by Scottish punk rock group ]. | |||
==External links== | ==External links== | ||
{{Commons category|Gerry Adams}} | |||
{{wikiquote}} | |||
{{Wikiquote}} | |||
{{wikisource author}} | |||
*{{twitter}} | |||
* (April 2006; interviewed by ]) | |||
* blog by Gerry Adams | |||
* Counterarguments from a Catholic standpoint | |||
* at '']'' | |||
* | |||
* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150523065141/http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/20204 |date=23 May 2015 }} Sinn Féin profile | |||
* | |||
{{UK MP links|parliament=|hansard=|hansardcurr=|guardian=17/gerry-adams|publicwhip=|theywork=gerry_adams|record=Gerry-Adams/Belfast-West/1|bbc=25791.stm|journalisted=gerry-adams}} | |||
* | |||
*{{IMDb name|1128049}} | |||
* | |||
* {{C-SPAN|34226}} | |||
* | |||
*{{Guardian topic}} | |||
* | |||
*{{New York Times topic|people/a/gerry_adams}} | |||
* Anthony McIntyre, ''The Blanket'', 28 April 2004 | |||
* February 2006 | |||
* at '']'' | |||
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==References== | |||
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==Bibliography== | |||
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*''The Protestant Reformation: The Preaching of Ian R. K. Paisley : Four Biographical Sermons : ], ], ], ]'' (Audio CD) | |||
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*''The Soul of the Question and the Question of the Soul'' | |||
{{s-ttl|title=]|years=1983–2018}} | |||
*''Christian Foundations'' | |||
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*''Protestants Remember!'' | |||
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*''Union with Rome: The Courtship and Proposed Marriage of Protestantism by Romanism and the Objections Thereto'' (Ravenhill pulpit) (Ravenhill pulpit) | |||
{{s-bef|before=]}} | |||
*''Ravenhill Pulpit: The Preaching of Ian R.K. Paisley'' | |||
{{s-ttl|title=President of ] in the ]|years=2011–2018}} | |||
*Souvenir booklet: ''The 50th Anniversary of the Larne Gun-Running'' (Ravenhill pulpit) (Ravenhill pulpit) | |||
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*''The Five Protestant Bishops whom Rome Burned: ], ], ], ], ]'' | |||
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*''Jesus Christ: Not Able to Sin'' | |||
{{s-par|ni/ass82}} | |||
*''No Pope Here'' | |||
{{s-new|Assembly}} | |||
*''God's Ultimatum to the Nation'' | |||
{{s-ttl|title=Member of the ]<br /> for ]|years=1982–1986}} | |||
*''Getting Your Priorities Right'' (Martyr's memorial pulpit) (Martyr's memorial pulpit) | |||
{{s-non|reason=Assembly abolished}} | |||
*''The Authority of the Scriptures vs. the Confusion of Translations: Dr. Ian Paisley Thunders Out For the King James Version and its texts!'' (B.F.T) | |||
|- | |||
*''Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans'' (Ian R.K.Paisley Library) | |||
*''Classic Sermons'' | |||
*] | |||
*''Messages from the Prison Cell'' | |||
*''Sermons With Startling Titles'' | |||
*''Betrayal of our National Heritage'' | |||
*''U.D.I.'' | |||
*''The Unaged Birth and the Unembellished Gospel'' | |||
*''Some Kidd But Definitely No Goat!: The Story of the Witty, the Learned, the Eccentric and the Controversial Dr. Kidd of Aberdeen'' | |||
*''For Such a Time as This'' | |||
*''The Ulster Problem, Spring 1972: A Discussion of the True Situation in Northern Ireland'' | |||
*''The Living Bible: The Livid Libel of the Scriptures of Truth: an Exposure of the So-called Bible for Everyone'' | |||
*''The Jesuits: Their Start, Sign, System, Secrecy, Strategy'' | |||
*''The Archbishop in the Arms of the Pope of Rome!: Protestant Ministers in the Hands of the Police of Rome!'' | |||
*''Three great reformers'' | |||
*''The Massacre of St. Bartholomew: A Record of Papal Terror and Protestant Triumph in France in the Sixteenth Century'' | |||
*''] and the Church of Rome'' | |||
*''False Views by Modern Man: An Exposure of "Good News for Modern Man - The New Testament - Today's English Version"'' | |||
*''Grow Old Along With Me'' | |||
*''Paisley: The Man and his Message'' | |||
*''The Ecumenical Nightmare: Church Unity in 1980!'' | |||
*''Text a Day Keeps the Evil Away'' | |||
*''Into the Millennium : 20th century Messages for 21st century Living'' | |||
*''The Rent Veils at Calvary'' | |||
*''The Fundamentalist and his State'': Address delivered on June l5, 1976 to the World Congress of Fundamentalists meeting at Usher Hall, Edinburgh | |||
*''America's Debt to Ulster'' | |||
*''The Crown of Thorns'' | |||
*''An Enemy has Done This: Terror and Treachery in Northern Ireland'' | |||
*''Expository Sermons'' | |||
*''The Garments of Christ'' | |||
*''My Plea for the Old Sword'' | |||
*''Christian Foundations'' | |||
*''Sermons for Special Occasions'' | |||
*''Paisley's Pocket Preacher: Thumbnail gospel sermons'' | |||
*''The Livid Libel of the Scriptures of Truth: An Exposure of the So-called Bible in Everyday Language for Everyone'' (B.F.T) | |||
*''The Revised English Bible: The Antichrist Bible, An Exposure'' | |||
*''Be Sure'' | |||
*''Ulster: The Facts'' | |||
*''The Crown Rights of Jesus Christ'': An address delivered by request before the General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church of America | |||
*''An Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans,: Prepared in the Prison Cell'' | |||
*''The Common Bible (Revised Standard Version): The Bible of the Antichrist'' | |||
*'The 59 Revival: An Authentic History of the Great Ulster Awakening of 1859'' | |||
==Sources and further information== | |||
* ] '' \ian_paisley06.ram'' | |||
*], ''God save Ulster! The religion and politics of ]''. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1986. | |||
*], ''Persecuting Zeal: a portrait of Ian Paisley'', Brandon Books, 1996. | |||
*], ''God and the Gun'', Orion Books, London. | |||
*], "Ian Paisley and the Reformed Tradition", ''Political Studies'', September 1987. | |||
*] & ], ''Paisley'', Poolbeg Press, 1986. | |||
*], ''Ian Paisley: My Father'', Marshall Pickering, 1988. | |||
*], ''Ian Paisley: Voice of Protestant Ulster''. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic, 1987. | |||
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Latest revision as of 20:16, 31 December 2024
Irish republican politician (born 1948) This article is about the Irish republican politician. For other people with the same name, see Gerry Adams (disambiguation).
Gerry Adams | |
---|---|
Adams in 2018 | |
President of Sinn Féin | |
In office 13 November 1983 – 10 February 2018 | |
Vice President | |
Preceded by | Ruairí Ó Brádaigh |
Succeeded by | Mary Lou McDonald |
Leader of Sinn Féin in Dáil Éireann | |
In office 9 March 2011 – 10 February 2018 | |
Preceded by | Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin |
Succeeded by | Mary Lou McDonald |
Teachta Dála for Louth | |
In office February 2011 – February 2020 | |
Member of the Legislative Assembly for Belfast West | |
In office 25 June 1998 – 7 December 2010 | |
Preceded by | Constituency established |
Succeeded by | Pat Sheehan |
Member of Parliament for Belfast West | |
In office 1 May 1997 – 26 January 2011 | |
Preceded by | Joe Hendron |
Succeeded by | Paul Maskey |
In office 9 June 1983 – 16 March 1992 | |
Preceded by | Gerry Fitt |
Succeeded by | Joe Hendron |
Personal details | |
Born | Gerard Adams (1948-10-06) 6 October 1948 (age 76) Belfast, Northern Ireland |
Political party | Sinn Féin |
Spouse |
Collette McArdle (m. 1971) |
Children | 1 |
Parent |
|
Education | St. Mary's CBS, Belfast |
Website | sinnfein |
Gerard Adams (Irish: Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh; born 6 October 1948) is an 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 2011–2020. From 1983–1992 and from 1997–2011, he won election as a Member of Parliament (MP) of the UK Parliament for the Belfast West constituency, but followed the 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). 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. 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.
Adams has often been accused of being a member of the IRA leadership in the 1970s and 80s, 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. He was released without charge and a file was sent to the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland, which later stated there was insufficient evidence to charge him. 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. He was succeeded by Mary Lou McDonald at a special ardfheis (party conference) on 10 February 2018.
Early life
Adams was born in the Ballymurphy district of Belfast on 6 October 1948. His parents, Anne (née Hannaway) and Gerry Adams Sr., came from republican backgrounds. 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. In J. Bowyer Bell's book The Secret Army, 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 1942, he participated in an IRA ambush on a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) patrol but was shot, arrested and sentenced to eight years' imprisonment. 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. 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 career
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. Adams was an active supporter and joined the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association in 1967. 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". Adams was interned on HMS Maidstone, but on the Provisional IRA's insistence was released in June to take part in secret, but abortive talks in London. 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.
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. In 2020, the UK Supreme Court quashed Adams' convictions for attempting to escape on Christmas Eve in 1973 and again in July 1974.
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. 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. 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. 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".
IRA membership allegations
Adams has stated repeatedly that he has never been a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). However, journalists such as Ed Moloney, Peter Taylor, and Mark Urban, and historians, such as Richard English and John Bowyer Bell, have all named Adams as part of the IRA leadership since the 1970s. Furthermore, several former IRA members, including Brendan Hughes, Ivor Bell, and Seán Mac Stíofáin, 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 1971-1972, became the adjutant for the brigade in 1972, and had become the OC of the brigade by 1973.
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. He was charged with IRA membership and remanded to Crumlin Road Gaol. 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. 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.
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.
— "Brownie" (reportedly a pseudonym of Adams') in an article written in An Phoblacht while Adams was a prisoner in Long Kesh in 1976
Rise in Sinn Féin
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. The call resonated with younger Northern people, many 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, 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.
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. 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. 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.
Assassination attempt by the UDA
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. 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. Some, including Adams himself, still have unanswered questions about the RUC's actions prior to the shooting. An Ulster Defence Regiment NCO subsequently received the Queen's Gallantry Medal for chasing and arresting an assailant.
President of Sinn Féin
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. 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."
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. 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 ban
Adams's prominence as an Irish republican leader was increased by the 1988–1994 British broadcasting voice restrictions, 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". 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. While the ban covered 11 Irish political parties and paramilitary organisations, in practice it mostly affected Sinn Féin, the most prominent of these bodies.
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. This loophole could not be used in the Republic, as word-for-word broadcasts were not allowed. Instead, the banned speaker's words were summarised by the newsreader, over video of them speaking.
These bans were lampooned in cartoons and satirical TV shows, such as 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.
Movement into mainstream politics
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, 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. 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.
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.
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. 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.
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 government
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 many communities. Adams said in reaction to the bombing "I am totally horrified by this action. I condemn it without any equivocation whatsoever." Prior to this, Adams had not used the word "condemn" in relation to IRA or their splinter groups' actions.
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. 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.
Election to Dáil Éireann
Adams was re-elected as MP for West Belfast with 71.1% of the vote in May 2010, but resigned his seat the following December, in order to seek election as a TD (member of Irish Parliament) for the constituency of Louth at the 2011 Irish general election. He topped the poll in the consistuency with 15,072 (21.7%) first preference votes, and was duly elected to Dáil Éireann where he succeeded Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin as Sinn Féin parliamentary leader.
In December 2013, Adams was a member of the Guard of Honour at Nelson Mandela's funeral.
2014 arrest
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. He had previously voluntarily arranged to be interviewed by police regarding the matter, and maintained he had no involvement. 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. McConville's family had campaigned for the arrest of Adams for the murder. 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.
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." Adams denied that he had any involvement in the murder or was ever a member of the IRA, and said the allegations came from "enemies of the peace process". On 29 September 2015 the Public Prosecution Service announced Adams would not face charges, due to insufficient evidence, as had been expected ever since a BBC report dated 6 May 2014 (2 days after the BBC reported his release), which was widely repeated elsewhere.
Late presidency
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.
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 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. 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.
End of Sinn Féin presidency
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.
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".
Personal life
In 1971, Adams married Collette McArdle. Their son Gearoid was born in 1973, went on to play Gaelic football for Antrim GAA senior men's team and became its assistant manager in 2012.
In 2013, Adams' brother Liam was found guilty of 10 offences, including rape and gross indecency committed against his own daughter. 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. Liam was jailed for 16 years, and died of pancreatic cancer in February 2019 at the age of 63 while in Maghaberry Prison.
In 2016, Adams sparked controversy by posting "Watching Django Unchained—A Ballymurphy Nigger!" on social media. This was widely reported, and Adams deleted it and apologised.
Media portrayals
Adams has been portrayed in a number of films, TV series, and books:
- 1999 – The Marching Season, a spy fiction novel by Daniel Silva.
- 2004 – film Omagh, with actor Jonathan Ryan, a dramatisation of the 1998 Omagh bombing and its aftermath.
- 2010 – TV film Mo, with actor John Lynch, the story of Mo Mowlam and the Good Friday Agreement.
- 2012 – The Cold Cold Ground, a crime novel by Adrian McKinty; Adams is interviewed by the book's main character after an associate is found murdered.
- 2016 – film The Journey, with actor Ian Beattie.
- 2017 – film The Foreigner, with actor Pierce Brosnan playing a former IRA leader who resembles Adams.
- 2024 - TV series Say Nothing, with actors Josh Finan and Michael Colgan. 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."
Published works
- 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, ISBN 978-0-86322-114-9
- The Street and Other Stories, 1993, Brandon Books, ISBN 978-0-86322-293-1
- Free Ireland: Towards a Lasting Peace, 1995
- Before the Dawn: An Autobiography, 1996, Brandon Books, ISBN 978-0-434-00341-9
- Selected Writings
- Who Fears to Speak...?, 2001 (Original Edition 1991), Beyond the Pale Publications, ISBN 978-1-900960-13-7
- An Irish Journal, 2001, Brandon Books, ISBN 978-0-86322-282-5
- Hope and History: Making Peace in Ireland, 2003, Brandon Books, ISBN 978-0-86322-330-3
- A Farther Shore, 2005, Random House
- The New Ireland: A Vision For The Future, 2005, Brandon Books, ISBN 978-0-86322-344-0
- An Irish Eye, 2007, Brandon Books, ISBN 978-0-86322-370-9
- My Little Book of Tweets, 2016, Mercier Press, ISBN 978-1-78117-449-4
References
- "Cairt Chearta do Chách" (in Irish). Archived from the original on 18 November 2007. Retrieved 30 November 2006.
{{cite web}}
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- "Gerry Adams". ElectionsIreland.org. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
- "1984: Sinn Fein leader shot in street attack". BBC: On This Day. 14 March 1984. Archived from the original on 29 October 2019. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
- "Irish Genealogy, Customs & Roots". IrishCentral.com. Archived from the original on 6 January 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
- "Full text: IRA statement". The Guardian. London. 28 July 2005. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 17 March 2007.
- Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams held over Jean McConville murder Archived 21 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine, BBC News. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
- Gerry Adams remains in custody over McConville murder Archived 1 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine, BBC News, 1 May 2014.
- ^ "Timing of arrest wrong says Adams". BBC News. 4 May 2014. Archived from the original on 27 July 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
- "Jean McConville murder: Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams will not face Disappeared charges" Archived 20 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine. BBC News, 29 September 2015.
- ^ "Gerry Adams denies McConville son 'backlash threat'". BBC. 6 May 2014. Archived from the original on 11 May 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
BBC News understands there was insufficient evidence to charge Mr Adams with any offence.
- ^ Anthony Bond, Sam Adams (6 May 2014). ""Insufficient evidence" to 'pursue prosecution of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams'". Daily Mirror. Archived from the original on 7 May 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
No charges would be brought against Mr Adams unless significant new evidence comes to light, according to reports ... There is "insufficient evidence" to pursue a prosecution against Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams in relation to the 1972 murder of Jean McConville, according to reports. The BBC said it understood that no charges would be brought against Mr Adams unless significant new evidence comes to light.
- ^ Doyle, Kevin (18 November 2017). "Gerry Adams to step down as Sinn Féin leader in 2018". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 19 November 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
- "Mary Lou McDonald confirmed as new leader of Sinn Féin". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
- ^ "Gerry Adams: Profile of Sinn Féin leader". BBC News. 20 November 2017. Archived from the original on 10 March 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
- ^ "Gerry Adams". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
- "Profile: Gerry Adams". BBC News. 20 November 2017. Archived from the original on 21 January 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
- J. Bowyer Bell, The Secret Army: The IRA 1916 (Irish Academy Press).
- Moloney 2002, p. 38.
- ^ Lalor, Brian, ed. (2003). The Encyclopaedia of Ireland. Dublin, Ireland: Gill & Macmillan. pp. 7–8. ISBN 978-0-7171-3000-9.
- "Troops catch three top Provisionals", The Belfast Telegraph, 14 March 1972.
- "Detained trio named", The Belfast Telegraph, 15 March 1972.
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The IRA that Adams joined in the mid-nineteen sixties was, in effect, moribund, though Adams has always denied IRA membership.
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- Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams arrested over murder of widowed mother abducted in 1972 Archived 20 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams held over Jean McConville murder Archived 24 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine. BBC News. 30 April 2014.
- Shadow of Jean McConville murder still hangs over Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein Archived 5 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine Irish Independent, 5 May 2014.
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The Sinn Fein president was questioned for four days in connection with the murder of Jean McConville and membership of the IRA.He has strongly denied all those allegations. ... He again said he was innocent of any involvement in Mrs McConville's murder.
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Works cited
- McDonald, Henry; Cusack, Jim (2004). UDA: Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror. Penguin Ireland. ISBN 978-1-84488-020-1.
- Moloney, Ed (2002). A Secret History of the IRA. Penguin Books. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-14-101041-0.
- Sharrock, David; Devenport, Mark (1997). Man of War, Man of Peace The Unauthorised Biography of Gerry Adams. London: Macmillan. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-330-35396-0.
- Taylor, Peter (1997). Provos The IRA & Sinn Féin. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-7475-3818-9.
Further reading
- de Bréadún, Deaglán (22 January 2018). "Gerry Adams – the face of Irish republicanism – hands over at Sinn Féin". WikiTribune.
- Keena, Colm (1990). Biography of Gerry Adams. Cork: Mercier Press.
- Keefe, Patrick Radden (2019). Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland. Doubleday New York.
- Randolph, Jody Allen (2010). "Gerry Adams, August 2009". Close to the Next Moment: Interviews from a Changing Ireland. Manchester: Carcanet. ISBN 9781847770486.
External links
- Gerry Adams on Twitter
- Léargas blog by Gerry Adams
- Column archive at The Guardian
- Gerry Adams Archived 23 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine Sinn Féin profile
- Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
- Gerry Adams at IMDb
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Gerry Adams collected news and commentary at The Guardian
- Gerry Adams collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- Gerry Adams Man Of War and Man Of Peace? Anthony McIntyre, The Blanket, 28 April 2004
- Interview with Gerry Adams February 2006
- Gerry Adams Profile at New Statesman
Party political offices | ||
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Preceded byJoe Cahill Dáithí Ó Conaill |
Vice President of Sinn Féin 1978–1983 Served alongside: Joe Cahill, Dáithí Ó Conaill |
Succeeded byPhil Flynn |
Preceded byRuairí Ó Brádaigh | President of Sinn Féin 1983–2018 |
Succeeded byMary Lou McDonald |
Preceded byCaoimhghín Ó Caoláin | President of Sinn Féin in the Dáil Éireann 2011–2018 |
Succeeded byMary Lou McDonald |
Northern Ireland Assembly (1982) | ||
New assembly | Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for West Belfast 1982–1986 |
Assembly abolished |
Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
Preceded byGerry Fitt | Member of Parliament for Belfast West 1983–1992 |
Succeeded byJoe Hendron |
Preceded byJoe Hendron | Member of Parliament for Belfast West 1997–2011 |
Succeeded byPaul Maskey |
Northern Ireland Forum | ||
New forum | Member of the Northern Ireland Forum for West Belfast 1996–1998 |
Forum dissolved |
Northern Ireland Assembly | ||
New assembly | Member of the Legislative Assembly for Belfast West 1998–2010 |
Succeeded byPat Sheehan |
2010 United Kingdom general election | |
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Parties elected to the House of Commons |
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Parties represented in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, London, or the EU | |
Results by area | |
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2010 United Kingdom local elections |
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Prominent killings |
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- 1948 births
- 21st-century writers from Northern Ireland
- Irish nationalists
- Irish republicans
- Irish republicans interned without trial
- Leaders of Sinn Féin
- Living people
- Male non-fiction writers from Northern Ireland
- Members of the 31st Dáil
- Members of the 32nd Dáil
- Members of the Northern Ireland Forum
- Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Belfast constituencies (since 1922)
- Northern Ireland MPAs 1982–1986
- Northern Ireland MLAs 1998–2003
- Northern Ireland MLAs 2003–2007
- Northern Ireland MLAs 2007–2011
- People educated at St. Mary's Christian Brothers' Grammar School, Belfast
- Politicians from Belfast
- Irish shooting survivors
- Socialists from Northern Ireland
- Sinn Féin MLAs
- Sinn Féin MPs (post-1921)
- Sinn Féin TDs (post-1923)
- UK MPs 1983–1987
- UK MPs 1987–1992
- UK MPs 1997–2001
- UK MPs 2001–2005
- UK MPs 2005–2010
- UK MPs 2010–2015
- Writers from Belfast
- Victims of bomb threats