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{{short description|Irish republican politician (born 1948)}}
{{other people}}
{{About other people|the Irish republican politician}}
{{Infobox Officeholder
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=July 2022}}
|name = Gerry Adams<br><small>Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh</small>
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
|honorific-suffix = ]
{{Infobox officeholder
|image = GAdams.jpg
|image_size = 250px | name = Gerry Adams
| honorific-suffix =
|office = ]
| image = Gerry Adams in 2018 (cropped).jpg
|term_start = 13 November 1983
|term_end = | caption = Adams in 2018
|predecessor = ] | office = ]
|successor = | term_start = 13 November 1983
|office2 = ] | term_end = 10 February 2018
| predecessor = ]
|term_start2 = ]
| successor = ]
|constituency2 = ]
| vicepresident = {{plainlist|
|predecessor2 = ]
*]
|successor2 =
*]
|office3 = ] <br> for ]
*]
|term_start3 = 1 May 1997
*]
|term_end3 = 26 January 2011
|predecessor3 = ]
|successor3 = ]
|term_start4 = 9 June 1983
|term_end4 = 9 April 1992
|predecessor4 = ]
|successor4 = ]
|office5 = ] <br> for ]
|assembly5 =
|term_start5 = 25 June 1998
|term_end5 = 7 December 2010
|predecessor5 = ]
|successor5 = ]
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1948|10|6|df=y}}
|birth_place = ], ]
|death_date =
|death_place =
|party = ]
|spouse = Collette McArdle
|children = 3
|occupation = ]
|nationality = Irish<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/article.aspx?id=158 |title=World Politics Review &#124; Sinn Fein's Adams on 'Peace Mission' to Middle East |publisher=Worldpoliticsreview.com |date= |accessdate=2008-10-31}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/irish_news/arts2002/jcollins10-17-02.php |title=Newshound: Daily Northern Ireland news catalog&nbsp;— Irish News article |publisher=Nuzhound.com |date= |accessdate=2008-10-31}}</ref>
|religion = ]
|website =
}} }}
| office1 = Leader of ] in ]
'''Gerard "Gerry"Adams''' ({{lang-ga|Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh}};<ref> Sinn Féin press release, 26 January 2004.</ref> born 6 October 1948) is an ] ] ], President of the ] political party, and the ] (TD) for ] since the ].<ref name=oireachtas_db>
| term_start1 = 9 March 2011
{{cite web
| term_end1 = 10 February 2018
|url=http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=0&HouseNum=31&MemberID=2280&ConstID=139
| predecessor1 = ]
|title=Mr. Gerry Adams
| successor1 = ]
|work=Oireachtas Members Database
| office3 = ] <br />for ]
|accessdate=6 March 2011
| term_start3 = ]
}}</ref><ref name=elecs_irl>
| term_end3 = ]
{{cite web
| office4 = ]<br /> for ]
|url=http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=7934
| term_start4 = 25 June 1998
|title=Gerry Adams
| term_end4 = 7 December 2010
|work=ElectionsIreland.org
| predecessor4 = ''Constituency established''
|accessdate=6 March 2011
| successor4 = ]
}}</ref> From ] to ] and from ] to ], he was an ] ] ] (MP) for ].
| 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 ].


He has been the President of Sinn Féin, the second-largest political party in ] and the largest ] party, since 1983.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/election2011/constituency/html/northern_ireland.stm | work=BBC News | title=Northern Ireland elections}}</ref><ref name="Sinn Fein tops poll in Euro count">{{cite web | url=http://www.webcitation.org/5lhQDgRjs | title=Sinn Fein tops poll in Euro count | accessdate=June 8, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Devenport |first=Mark |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8090462.stm |title=Who hit and who missed Euro target? |publisher=BBC News |date=2009-06-08 |accessdate=2010-06-16}}</ref> From the late-1980s onwards, Adams was an important figure in the ], initially following contact by the then-] (SDLP) Leader ] and then subsequently with the ] and ] Governments. In 2005, the ] (IRA) indicated that its armed campaign was over and that it was exclusively committed to democratic politics.<ref>{{cite news | title = Full text: IRA statement | author = | url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,,1537996,00.html | publisher = The Guardian | date = 28 July 2005 | accessdate = 2007-03-17 | location=London}}</ref> Under Adams, Sinn Féin changed its traditional policy of ] towards the ], the Parliament of the ], in 1986 and later took seats in the ] ]. 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>


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>
== Ancestry and early life ==
Adams was born in ], ]. Adams' parents, ] and Anne "Annie" Hannaway, came from republican backgrounds. Adams' grandfather, also called Gerry Adams, had been a member of the ] (IRB) during the ]. Two of Adams' uncles, Dominic and Patrick Adams, had been interned by the governments in Belfast and Dublin. Although it is reported that his uncle Dominic was a one-time ], ] states in his book, ''The Secret Army: The IRA 1916'' (Irish Academy Press), that Dominic Adams was a senior figure in the IRA of the mid-1940s. Gerry Sr. joined the ] at age sixteen. In 1942, he participated in an IRA ambush on a ] (RUC) patrol but was himself shot, arrested and sentenced to eight years imprisonment.


==Early life==
Adams' maternal great-grandfather, Michael Hannaway, was a member of the ] during their dynamiting campaign in England in the 1860s and 1870s. Michael's son, Billy, was election agent for ] in 1918 in ] but refused to follow de Valera into democratic and constitutional politics upon the formation of ].
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 ].


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.
Annie Hannaway was a member of ], the women's branch of the IRA. Three of her brothers (Alfie, Liam and Tommy) were known IRA members.


==Early political career==
His cousin Kieran Murphy was abducted and killed by the ] in 1974.<ref>McKittrick et al, ''Lost Lives'', p. 484</ref>
] (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>
Adams attended ] on the Falls Road where he was taught by ] ]. Having passed the ] exam in 1960, he attended ]. He left St. Mary's with six ] and became a ]. He was increasingly involved in the Irish republican movement, joining Sinn Féin and ] in 1964, after being radicalised by the ] during ] campaign.<ref name="EI">{{cite book | last=Lalor | first=Brian (ed) | year=2003 |title=The Encyclopaedia of Ireland | publisher=Gill & Macmillan | location=Dublin, Ireland | isbn=978-0-7171-3000-9 | pages=7–8}}</ref>


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>
In 1971, Adams married Collette McArdle,<ref>''The Independent'', 10 April 2006</ref> with whom he has three children.


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}}
== Early political career ==
] is a badge worn at Easter by Irish republicans as symbol of remembrance for Irish combatants who died during or were executed after the 1916 ].]]
In the late 1960s, a civil rights campaign developed in Northern Ireland. Adams was an active supporter and joined the ] in 1967.<ref name="EI"/> However, the civil rights movement was met with protests from ] counter-demonstrators. In August 1969, Northern Ireland cities like Belfast and ] erupted in major rioting and British troops were called in at the request of the Government of Northern Ireland (see ]).


===IRA membership allegations===
Adams was active in Sinn Féin at this time, siding with the Provisionals in the split of 1970.{{Citation needed|date=February 2010}} In August 1971, ] was reintroduced to Northern Ireland under the ]. Adams was interned in March 1972, on {{HMS|Maidstone|1937|6}}, but 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 the British Home Secretary, ] at ] in Chelsea. The delegation included Gerry Adams, ], ] (IRA Chief of Staff), ], ], ] and Dublin solicitor ].<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/?id=Io085Nl0CJQC&pg=PA169&lpg=PA169&dq=ira+delegation+myles+shevlin+william+whitelaw&q=ira%20delegation%20myles%20shevlin%20william%20whitelaw |title=The long war: the IRA and Sinn Féin, Brendan O'Brien, p169 |publisher=Books.google.co.uk |date= |accessdate=2010-06-16|isbn=978-0-8156-0597-3|year=1999}} {{dead link|date=February 2011}}</ref> The IRA insisted Adams be included in the meeting and he was released from internment to participate.<ref name="EI"/> He was re-arrested in July 1973 and interned at the ] internment camp. 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 criticized the strategy and policy of ] and ]. He was also highly critical of a decision taken in Belfast by McKee to assassinate members of the rival ], who had been on ceasefire since 1972.<ref name="moloney">Moloney, pp. 166-168.</ref> After his release in 1976, he was again arrested in 1978 for alleged IRA membership, the charges were subsequently dismissed.<ref>{{cite web|author=Northern Ireland Assembly Information Office |url=http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/members/biogs_07/adams_g.htm |title=Biography&nbsp;— Gerry Adams |publisher=Niassembly.gov.uk |date=2010-06-03 |accessdate=2011-01-01}}</ref>
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>


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>
During the ], Adams played an important policy-making role, which saw the emergence of his party as a political force. In 1983, he 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 ], the ] government lifted a ban on him travelling to ]. In line with Sinn Féin policy, he refused to take his seat in the House of Commons. Sinn Féin retains a policy of abstentionism towards the Westminster Parliament, but since 2002, has received allowances for staff and takes up offices in the House of Commons.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/briefings/snpc-01667.pdf |title=Microsoft Word&nbsp;— snpc-01667.doc |format=PDF |date= |accessdate=2010-06-16}}</ref>


{{Blockquote
On 14 March 1984 in central Belfast, Adams was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt when several ] (UFF) gunmen fired about 20 shots into the car in which he was travelling. He was hit in the neck, shoulder and arm. After the shooting, he was rushed to the ], where he underwent surgery to remove the three bullets which had entered his body. An off duty ] from ] and an off-duty police officer drew their personal protection weapons and arrested <ref>Potter p267</ref><ref>Ryder p197</ref> three suspects who were later convicted and sentenced. One of the three was ], who would be killed by rival loyalists in 2003. Adams claimed that the ] had prior knowledge of the attack and allowed it to go ahead.<ref>{{cite news | title = Adams wants 1984 shooting probe | author = Kevin Maguire | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6179789.stm | publisher = BBC | date = 14 December 2006 | accessdate = 2007-03-22}}</ref> The UDR NCO subsequently received the ] for chasing and arresting the assailants. <ref>Potter p268</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==
=== Allegations of IRA membership ===
] (2001)]]
Adams has stated repeatedly that he has never been a member of the ] (IRA).<ref>{{cite news | title = Adams denies IRA links as book calls him a genius | author = Rosie Cowan | url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,802084,00.html | publisher = The Guardian | date = 1 October 2002 | accessdate = 2007-03-22 | location=London}}</ref> However, authors such as ], ], ] and historian ] have all named Adams as part of the IRA leadership since the 1970s.<ref>{{cite book | last = Moloney | first = Ed | authorlink = Ed Moloney | title = A Secret History of the IRA | publisher = ] | year = 2002 | page = 140 | doi = | isbn = 978-0-14-101041-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Taylor | first = Peter | authorlink = Peter Taylor (Journalist) | title = Provos The IRA & Sinn Féin | publisher = ] | year = 1997 | page = 140 | doi = | isbn = 978-0-7475-3818-9 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = English | first = Richard | authorlink = Richard English | title = Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA | publisher = ] | year = 2003 | page = 110 | doi = | isbn = 978-0-330-49388-8 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Urban | first = Mark | authorlink = | title = Big Boys' Rules: SAS and the Secret Struggle Against the IRA | publisher = ] | year = 1993 | page = 26 | doi = | isbn = 978-0-571-16809-5}}</ref> Adams has denied Moloney's claims, calling them "libellous".<ref>''.'' BBC News. 12 September 2002</ref> At a dinner for his ] party on 29 September 2012, ] ] accused Adams of having not only been a member of the IRA, but a member of the Army Council, calling for Adams to "be absolutely truthful about this" in response to Adams' calls for a ] in Northern Ireland.<ref> The '']'', September 30, 2012</ref>
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.
== President of Sinn Féin ==
In 1978, Gerry Adams became joint vice-president of Sinn Féin and a key figure in directing a challenge to the Sinn Féin leadership of President ] and joint vice- president ].


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>
The 1975 IRA-British truce is often viewed as the event that began the challenge to the original Provisional Sinn Féin leadership, which was said to be Southern-based and dominated by southerners like Ó Brádaigh and Ó Conaill. However, the Chief of Staff of the IRA at the time, ], was a senior figure from Belfast. Others in the leadership were also Northern based, including ] from Belfast.{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}}


] and ] in 1997]]
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, O'Connell and McKee opposed participation in constitutional politics. The other reason was the failure of the Goulding leadership to provide for the defence of nationalist areas. 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 organizations split. Gerry Adams, who had joined the Republican Movement in the early 1960s, sided with the Provisionals.
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 Long Kesh in the mid-1970s, and writing under the pseudonym "Brownie" in '']'', Adams called on Republicans for increased political activity, especially at a local level.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Sinn Féin: where does the money come from?|publisher=Irish Independent|date=19 June 2004|url=http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=36&si=1201596&issue_id=11029|postscript=}}</ref> The call resonated with younger Northern people, many of whom had been active in the Provisional IRA but had not necessarily been highly active in Sinn Féin. In 1977, Adams and ] drafted the address of Jimmy Drumm at the Annual ] 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,{{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 "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 ] in the other, we take power in Ireland". For others, however, the call to link political activity with armed struggle had been clearly defined in Sinn Féin policy and in the Presidential Addresses of ], but it had not resonated with the young Northerners.<ref>Robert White, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, The Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary, pp. 258-59.</ref>
]


===Assassination attempt by the UDA===
Even after the election of ] as MP for Fermanagh/South Tyrone, a part of the mass mobilization associated with the ] by republican prisoners in the '']'' of the ] prison (known as ] by Republicans), Adams was cautious about the level of political involvement by Sinn Féin. ], the ] of the Republic of Ireland, called ] 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 Bobby Sands, was a precursor to a big electoral breakthrough in ] in 1982 to the ].<ref>{{cite web|author=Dr Nicholas Whyte |url=http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/fa82.htm |title=Northern Ireland Assembly Elections 1982 |publisher=Ark.ac.uk |date= |accessdate=2011-01-01}}</ref> Adams, ], ], ], 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 Gerry 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 Gerry Adams.
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}}


==President of Sinn Féin==
Republicans had long claimed that the only legitimate Irish state was the ] declared in the Proclamation of the Republic of 1916, which they considered to be still in existence.{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}} In their view, the legitimate government was the ], which had been vested with the authority of that Republic in 1938 (prior to the ]) by the last remaining anti-] deputies of the ]. Adams continued to adhere to this claim of republican political legitimacy{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}} until quite recently&nbsp;— however, in his 2005 speech to the Sinn Féin ] he explicitly rejected it. "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> CAIN Web Service.</ref>
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 (Leinster House/Dáil Éireann). At this, ] led a small walkout, just as he and Sean Mac Stiofain had done sixteen years earlier with the creation of Provisional Sinn Féin.<ref>Taylor, p. 291.</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Anderson | first = Brendan | authorlink = | title = Joe Cahill: A Life in the IRA | publisher = O'Brien Press | year = 2002 | page = 340 | doi = | isbn = 978-0-86278-836-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = O'Brien | first = Brendan | authorlink = Brendan O'Brien (Irish journalist) | title = The Long War: The IRA and Sinn Féin | publisher = O'Brien Press |year=1999 | page = 130 | doi = | isbn = 978-0-86278-606-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Bishop, Patrick & Mallie, Eamonn | first = | authorlink = | title = The Provisional IRA | publisher = Corgi Books | year = 1987 | page = 448 | doi = | isbn = 978-0-552-13337-1}}</ref> This minority, which rejected dropping the policy of ], now nominally distinguishes itself from Provisional Sinn Féin by using the name ] (or Sinn Féin Poblachtach), and maintains that they are the true Sinn Féin republicans. 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.


Adams' leadership of Sinn Féin was supported by a Northern-based cadre that included people like ] and ]. Over time, Adams and others pointed to Republican electoral successes in the early and mid-1980s, when hunger strikers ] and ] were elected to the ] 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. 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.


=== Voice ban === ===Voice ban===
Adams's prominence as an Irish Republican leader was increased by the ] (the ban actually covered eleven ] and loyalist organisations,<ref>, ''BBC News Online'', 5 April 2005</ref> but in practice Adams was the only one prominent enough to appear regularly on TV). This ban was imposed by the then prime minister ] on 19 October 1988, the reason given being 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> after the BBC interviewed ] and Adams had been the focus of a row over ] of '']'', an intended ] discussion programme which was never made.<ref>, By Michael Foley '']'', 17 September 1994 {{dead link|date=February 2011}}</ref><ref>], accessed 7th August 2009</ref> 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.
A similar ban, known as ], had been law in the Republic of Ireland since the 1970s. However, media outlets soon found ways around the ban, initially by the use of subtitles, but later and more commonly by the use of an actor reading his words over the images of him speaking. One actor who voiced Adams was ].<ref>
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This ban was lampooned in cartoons and satirical TV shows, such as '']'', and in '']'' and was criticised by ] organisations and British media personalities, including BBC Director General ] and BBC foreign editor ]. The ban was lifted by British Prime Minister ] on 17 September 1994.{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}} 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>


== Moving into mainstream politics == ==Movement into mainstream politics==
] ] in 1995]]
Sinn Féin continued its policy of refusing to sit in the ] even after Adams won the ] constituency. He lost his seat to ] of the ] (SDLP) in the ], regaining it at the following ].
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&nbsp;– 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>
Under Adams, Sinn Féin appeared to move away from being a political voice of the Provisional IRA to becoming a professionally organised political party in both ] and the ].


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>
SDLP leader ], MP, 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 ]&nbsp;– although both governments maintained in public that they would not negotiate with terrorists.


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>
These talks provided the groundwork for what was later to be the ], as well as the milestone ] and the ].


] 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.
These negotiations led to the IRA ceasefire in August 1994. Irish ] ], 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 ] and the consequent reliance on ] votes in the House of Commons, led the IRA to end its ceasefire and resume the campaign.{{Citation needed|date=January 2011}}


===Sinn Féin in government===
A re-instituted ceasefire later followed as part of the negotiations strategy, which saw teams from the British and Irish governments, the Ulster Unionist Party, the SDLP, Sinn Féin and representatives of loyalist paramilitary organizations, under the chairmanship of former United States Senator ], produced the Belfast Agreement (also called the ''Good Friday Agreement'' as it was signed on ], 1998). Under the agreement, structures were created reflecting the Irish and British identities of the people of Ireland, with a ] and a ] created.
] ] 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>


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. When later the SDLP chose a new leader, it selected one of its ministers, ], who then opted to remain in the committee.
Articles 2 and 3 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.


Adams was re-elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly on 8 March 2007, and on 26 March 2007, he 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>
On 15 August 1998, four months after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, the ] ] in ], ], killing 31 people and injuring 220, from many communities. Breaking with tradition, Adams said in reaction to the bombing "I am totally horrified by this action. I condemn it without any equivocation whatsoever."<ref> Retrieved 13 March 2011</ref> Prior to this, Adams had maintained a policy of refusing to condemn IRA or their splinter groups' actions.


In January 2009, Adams attended the United States presidential ] as a guest of US Congressman ].<ref>19/Jan/2009 ''The Daily Telegraph''.</ref>
Opponents in Republican Sinn Féin accused Sinn Féin of "selling out" by agreeing to participate in what it called "] assemblies" in the Republic and Northern Ireland. However, Gerry Adams insisted that the Belfast Agreement provided a mechanism to deliver a united Ireland by non-violent and constitutional means, much as ] had said of the ] nearly 80 years earlier.


===Election to Dáil Éireann===
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. (When later the SDLP chose a new leader, it selected one of its ministers, ], who then opted to remain in the Committee.)
] at the Sinn Féin ardfheis in March 2015]]


On 6 May 2010, Adams was re-elected as MP for West Belfast, garnering 71.1% of the vote.<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> In 2010, Adams announced that he would be seeking 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> He subsequently resigned his West Belfast Assembly seat on 7 December 2010.<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>
Adams remains the President of Sinn Féin. In 2011 he succeeded ] as Sinn Féin parliamentary leader in Dáil Éireann. ] is the head of the Sinn Féin group in the Northern Ireland Assembly.


Following the announcement of the 2011 Irish general election, Adams ].<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 was elected to the Dáil, topping the Louth constituency poll with 15,072 (21.7%) first preference votes.<ref>{{Cite news |date=28 February 2011 |title=Louth&nbsp;– 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> He succeeded ] as Sinn Féin parliamentary leader in Dáil Éireann.<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> 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>
Adams was re-elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly on 8 March 2007,<ref>. ], 8 March 2007.</ref> and on 26 March 2007, he met with DUP leader ] face-to-face for the first time, and the two came to an agreement regarding the return of the power-sharing executive in Northern Ireland.<ref>{{cite news | title = May date for return to devolution | author = | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6494599.stm | publisher = BBC | date = 26 March 2007 | accessdate = 2007-03-26}}</ref>


===2014 arrest===
In January 2009, Adams attended the United States presidential ] as a guest of US ].<ref>19/Jan/2009 Telegraph.co.uk</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>
On 6 May 2010, Adams was re-elected as MP for West Belfast garnering 71.1% of the vote.<ref>{{cite news | title = Election 2010 | author = | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/election2010/results/constituency/704.stm | publisher = BBC | date = 7 May 2010 | accessdate = 2010-05-07}}</ref> In 2011 the Chancellor appointed Adams to the British title of ] to allow him to resign from the House of Commons and to stand for election in the Dáil.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Gerry-Adams-forced-to-accept-British-title-in-order-to-resign-MP-seat-114657514.html |title=Gerry Adams forced to accept British title in order to resign MP seat &#124; Irish News |publisher=IrishCentral |date= |accessdate=2013-08-07}}</ref> Initially it was claimed by David Cameron that Adams had accepted the title but Downing Street has since apologised for this and Adams has publicly rejected the title stating, "I have had no truck whatsoever with these antiquated and quite bizarre aspects of the British parliamentary system".<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-12292896 | work=BBC News | title=Downing Street apology for Gerry Adams | date=26 January 2011}}</ref><ref> BBC News - Northern Ireland, 26 January 2011. Retrieved 17 June 2011.</ref> Officially however, Adams held the title between January and April 2011.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.thejournal.ie/sinn-fein-reorganisation-to-see-mcguinness-inherit-adams-old-title-482425-Jun2012/ | work=The Journal | title=McGuinness to inherit Adams’ old British title under SF reorganisation | date=11 June 2012}}</ref>


===Late presidency===
== Dáil Éireann election ==
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 2010, Adams announced that he would be seeking election as a ] (member of Irish Parliament) for the constituency of ] at the ].<ref>{{cite news | title = Adams to contest Co Louth seat for SF in next election | author = | url = http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/1114/breaking2.html | publisher = Irish Times | date = 14 November 2010 | accessdate = November 14, 2010}}</ref> He subsequently resigned his West Belfast ] seat on 7 December 2010.<ref>{{cite web|author=Northern Ireland Assembly Information Office |url=http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/members/membership07.htm |title=NI Assembly membership, note 17 |publisher=Niassembly.gov.uk |date= |accessdate=2011-01-01}}</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" />
Following the announcement of the ], Adams wrote to the House of Commons to resign his seat.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/gerry-adams-quits-westminster-seat-15059866.html |title=Gerry Adams quits Westminster seat |publisher=Belfasttelegraph.co.uk |date=2011-01-20 |accessdate=2011-01-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-12246725 |title=Gerry Adams resigns as West Belfast MP |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |date=2011-01-20 |accessdate=2011-01-24}}</ref> This was treated as an application for the position of ], an ] under the Crown, the traditional method of leaving Westminster as plain resignation is not possible, and granted as such even though Adams had not explicitly made the request.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-12277669 |title=Adams 'must follow parliamentary rules to resign as MP'|publisher=bbc.co.uk |date=2011-01-25 |accessdate=2011-01-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0128/1224288460261.html |title=SF leader has not refused crown post|publisher=Irishtimes.com |date=2011-01-28 |accessdate=2011-01-28 |first=Mark |last=Hennessy}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/cameron-confirms-gerry-adams-resignation-2194908.html|title=Cameron confirms Gerry Adams resignation |publisher=The Independent|date=2011-01-26 |accessdate=2011-01-26|location=London|first1=Emily|last1=Ashton}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/press_08_11.htm|title=Manor of Northstead|date=26 January 2011|publisher=]|accessdate=26 January 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/19972|title=Adams comments on Cameron claims|date=26 January 2011|publisher=]|accessdate=26 January 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/adams-in-rebuke-to-cameron-for-bizarre-baron-appointment-490875.html|title=Adams in rebuke to Cameron for 'bizarre' Baron appointment |date=26 January 2011|publisher=BreakingNews.ie|accessdate=26 January 2011}}</ref><ref>, ]</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-12292896 |title=Downing Street apology for Gerry Adams |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |date= 26 January 2011|accessdate=2011-01-27}}</ref>


===End of Sinn Féin presidency===
He was elected to the Dáil, topping the Louth constituency poll with 15,072 (21.7%) first preference votes.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/election2011/results/louth.html |title=Louth&nbsp;— RTÉ News |publisher=Rte.ie |date= 28 February 2011|accessdate=2011-03-06}}</ref>
], 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>
== Media portrayals ==
Gerry Adams has been portrayed in a number of films, TV programmes, and books:


==Personal life==
* 2004 - film '']'' by actor ]. The film is a dramatisation of the 1998 ] and its aftermath.
{{republicanism sidebar}}
* 2010 - TV film ''Mo'' by actor ]; the story of ] and the ].
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>
* 1999 - Novel '']''; a spy fiction novel by ].
* 1996 - Novel ''Eureka Street'' by ], as the character Jimmy Eve.


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>
== Published works ==

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>

==Media portrayals==
Adams has been portrayed in a number of films, TV series, and books:
* 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==
* ''Falls Memories'', 1982 * ''Falls Memories'', 1982
* ''The Politics of Irish Freedom'', 1986 * ''The Politics of Irish Freedom'', 1986
* ''A Pathway to Peace'', 1988 * ''A Pathway to Peace'', 1988
* ''An Irish Voice: The Quest for Peace'' * ''An Irish Voice: The Quest for Peace''
* ''Cage Eleven'', 1990, Brandon Books, ISBN 978-0-86322-114-9 * ''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 * ''The Street and Other Stories'', 1993, Brandon Books, {{ISBN|978-0-86322-293-1}}
* ''Free Ireland: Towards a Lasting Peace'', 1995 * ''Free Ireland: Towards a Lasting Peace'', 1995
* ''Before the Dawn: An Autobiography'', 1996, Brandon Books, ISBN 978-0-434-00341-9 * ''Before the Dawn: An Autobiography'', 1996, Brandon Books, {{ISBN|978-0-434-00341-9}}
* ''Selected Writings'' * ''Selected Writings''
* ''Who Fears to Speak...?'', 2001(Original Edition 1991), Beyond the Pale Publications, ISBN 978-1-900960-13-7 * ''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 * ''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 * ''Hope and History: Making Peace in Ireland'', 2003, Brandon Books, {{ISBN|978-0-86322-330-3}}
* ''A Farther Shore'', 2005, Random House * ''A Farther Shore'', 2005, Random House
* ''The New Ireland: A Vision For The Future'', 2005, Brandon Books, ISBN 978-0-86322-344-0 * ''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 * ''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}}


== See also == ==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
* ]
* ]


== Bibliography == ==Works cited==
* {{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 }}
* ''A Testimony to Courage – the Regimental History of the Ulster Defence Regiment 1969 – 1992'', John Potter, ] Ltd, 2001, ISBN 0-85052-819-4
* {{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}}
* ''The Ulster Defence Regiment: An Instrument of Peace?'', Chris Ryder 1991 ISBN 0-413-64800-1
* {{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}}
* Allen Randolph, Jody. "Gerry Adams, August 2009." ''Close to the Next Moment: Interviews from a Changing Ireland.'' Manchester: Carcanet, 2010.
* {{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}}
* Keena, Colm. ''Biography of Gerry Adams.'' Cork: Mercier Press, 1990


== References == ==Further reading==
{{Reflist|2}}


* {{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=]}}
== External links ==
* {{Cite book |last=Keena |first=Colm |title=Biography of Gerry Adams |publisher=Mercier Press |year=1990 |location=Cork}}
* blog by Gerry Adams MP
* {{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}}
* at '']''
* {{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}}
* Sinn Féin profile

* Louth election candidate
==External links==
*{{MPLinksUK | parliament = | hansard = | hansardcurr = | guardian = 17/gerry-adams | publicwhip = | theywork = gerry_adams | record = Gerry-Adams/Belfast-West/1 | bbc = 25791.stm | journalisted = gerry-adams }}
{{Commons category|Gerry Adams}}
{{Wikiquote}}
*{{twitter}}
* blog by Gerry Adams
* 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}} *{{IMDb name|1128049}}
* {{C-SPAN|34226}}
*{{Worldcat id|lccn-n83-142260}}
*{{Guardian topic}}
*{{Guardiantopic|politics/gerryadams}}
*{{NYTtopic|people/a/gerry_adams}} *{{New York Times topic|people/a/gerry_adams}}
* Anthony McIntyre, ''The Blanket'', 28 April 2004 * Anthony McIntyre, ''The Blanket'', 28 April 2004
* February 2006 * February 2006
* at '']'' * at '']''


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Latest revision as of 19:34, 17 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 byRuairí Ó Brádaigh
Succeeded byMary Lou McDonald
Leader of Sinn Féin in Dáil Éireann
In office
9 March 2011 – 10 February 2018
Preceded byCaoimhghín Ó Caoláin
Succeeded byMary 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 byConstituency established
Succeeded byPat Sheehan
Member of Parliament
for Belfast West
In office
1 May 1997 – 26 January 2011
Preceded byJoe Hendron
Succeeded byPaul Maskey
In office
9 June 1983 – 16 March 1992
Preceded byGerry Fitt
Succeeded byJoe Hendron
Personal details
BornGerard Adams
(1948-10-06) 6 October 1948 (age 76)
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Political partySinn Féin
Spouse Collette McArdle ​(m. 1971)
Children1
Parent
Education St. Mary's CBS, Belfast
Websitesinnfein.ie/contents/20204

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

Adams wearing an Easter Lily (2008)

In the late 1960s, a civil rights campaign developed in Northern Ireland. After being radicalised by the Divis Street riots during the 1964 United Kingdom general election campaign, Adams joined Sinn Féin and Fianna Éireann. 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

Adams at a commemoration in County Fermanagh (2001)

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

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

In the Maze prison in the mid-1970s, writing under the pseudonym "Brownie" in Republican News, Adams called for increased political activity among republicans, especially at local level. 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.

Adams with Martin McGuinness and Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin in 1997

Even after the election of Bobby Sands as MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, a part of the mass mobilisation associated with the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike by republican prisoners in the H blocks of the Maze Prison, Adams was cautious that the level of political involvement by Sinn Féin could lead to electoral embarrassment. Charles Haughey, the Taoiseach of Ireland, called an election for June 1981. At an Ard Chomhairle meeting, Adams recommended that they contest only four constituencies which were in border counties. Instead, H-Block/Armagh candidates contested nine constituencies and elected two TDs. This, along with the election of Sands, was a precursor to an electoral breakthrough in elections in 1982 to the 1982 Northern Ireland Assembly. 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

Adams with President Bill Clinton in 1995

Sinn Féin continued its policy of refusing to sit in the Westminster Parliament after Adams won the Belfast West constituency. He lost his seat to Joe Hendron of the SDLP in the 1992 general election, 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

Adams with President George W. Bush and Peter King in 2001

On 15 August 1998, four months after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, the Omagh bombing by the Real IRA, killed 29 people and injured 220, from 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.

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. When later the SDLP chose a new leader, it selected one of its ministers, Mark Durkan, who then opted to remain in the committee.

Adams was re-elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly on 8 March 2007, and on 26 March 2007, he 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.

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

Gerry Adams with Euclid Tsakalotos at the Sinn Féin ardfheis in March 2015

On 6 May 2010, Adams was re-elected as MP for West Belfast, garnering 71.1% of the vote. In 2010, Adams announced that he would be seeking election as a TD (member of Irish Parliament) for the constituency of Louth at the 2011 Irish general election. He subsequently resigned his West Belfast Assembly seat on 7 December 2010.

Following the announcement of the 2011 Irish general election, Adams resigned his seat at the House of Commons. He was elected to the Dáil, topping the Louth constituency poll with 15,072 (21.7%) first preference votes. He succeeded Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin as Sinn Féin parliamentary leader in Dáil Éireann. 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 and his successor Mary Lou McDonald, pictured here in 2014

Adams' presidency of Sinn Féin ended on 10 February 2018, with his stepping down and the election of Mary Lou McDonald as the party's new president.

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

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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:

Published works

References

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Works cited

Further reading

External links

Party political offices
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

19831992
Succeeded byJoe Hendron
Preceded byJoe Hendron Member of Parliament
for Belfast West

19972011
Succeeded byPaul Maskey
Northern Ireland Forum
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Teachtaí Dála (TDs) for the Louth constituency
This table is transcluded from Louth (Dáil constituency). (edit | history)
Dáil Election Deputy
(Party)
Deputy
(Party)
Deputy
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Deputy
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Deputy
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3 seats
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5th 1927 (Jun) Frank Aiken
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7th 1932 James Coburn
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9th 1937 James Coburn
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11th 1943 Roddy Connolly
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1954 by-election George Coburn
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  1. Faulker served as Ceann Comhairle in the 21st Dáil from 1977 to 1981, and was returned automatically at the 1981 election.
  2. Kirk served as Ceann Comhairle in the 30th Dáil from 2009 to 2011, and was returned automatically at the 2011 election.
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