Sinn Fein
The Week in Review
02 – 07 May 2014

Gerry Adams: `We must focus on the future’
On 4 May, following his release from Antrim PSNI station, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD spoke at a Press Conference in West Belfast. We reproduce his remarks, written in Antrim PSNI station, in full:

`I came voluntarily from the Dáil in Dublin to Antrim PSNI barracks last Wednesday having contacted the PSNI two months ago through my solicitor Seamus Collins, to tell them that I was available to meet them following yet another spate of media speculation, part of a sustained malicious, untruthful and sinister campaign alleging involvement by me in the killing of Mrs Jean McConville.
`When the PSNI contacted my solicitor on Monday afternoon I was concerned about the timing, given that Sinn Féin is involved in very important EU and local government elections across the island of Ireland. But I quickly made arrangements to come here and I left Leinster House – the Oireachtas – and Leaders Questions with the Taoiseach to do so.
Mr Adams thanked his solicitor Seamus Collins `for his diligence and professional approach’ and his colleague Eugene McKenna. He also thanked `everyone who has sent goodwill messages to Colette and our family and to my comrades in Sinn Féin for their solidarity’.
He went on: `I am conscious that there is another family at the heart of this. That is the family of Mrs Jean McConville. Let me be very clear. I am innocent of any involvement in any conspiracy to abduct, kill and bury Mrs McConville. I have worked hard with others to have this injustice redressed and for the return of the bodies of others killed and secretly buried by the IRA and I will continue to do so. The Commission set up by the two governments at the request of myself, and the late Fr Alex Reid, has said that it is receiving 100% support from republicans. Martin McGuinness and I were actually to meet the Commission around this time as part of this work.
`I am mindful also that tomorrow is the anniversary of the death on hunger strike of H Block martyr Bobby Sands MP. Sitting in my cell here in recent days I reflected on that and on the dreadful summer of 1981. Of course this is not 1981 or 1972.
`The people of this island – with a few exceptions, have carved out a new dispensation. So while the past needs to be dealt with – and Sinn Féin is up for doing this – including the issue of victims and their families, there can be no going back. Peace needs to be built with determination and a consistent focus. That remains my intention and is Sinn Féin’s constant endeavour.
`I bear no animosity to anyone. I have no wish to be treated differently from anyone else. I am an activist – this is my live and I am philosophical and I understand that I have detractors and opponents. I especially understand that there are sinister elements, who are against the changes Sinn Féin and others are committed to achieving.
`I did not come here expecting special treatment but it is crucial that everyone is treated fairly. I seek fair treatment not only for myself but because it is crucially important that everyone knows that these are changed times, that they can and will be treated fairly and that we can all have hope and confidence in the new developing dispensation, including the police service. To send any other signal is to encourage the bigots.
`So I make the case that those who authorised my arrest and detention could have done it differently. They had discretion. They did not have to use pernicious coercive legislation to deal with a legacy issue – even one as serious as this, which I was voluntarily prepared to deal with. They did not have to do this in the middle of an election campaign. Remember I contacted them two months ago.
`Despite this I want to make it clear that I support the PSNI. I will continue to work with others to build a genuinely civic policing service. The old guard which is against change whether in the PSNI leadership, within unionism or the far fringes of republicanism, or the Dark Side of the British system cannot be allowed to deny any of the people – Protestant, Catholic or Dissenter – from our entitlement to a rights-based, citizen-centred society as set out in the Good Friday Agreement.
`I am an Irish republican. I want to live in a peaceful Ireland based on equality. I have never disassociated myself from the IRA and I never will but I am glad that I, and others, have created a peaceful and democratic way forward for everyone. The IRA is gone.
`During my interrogations much was made by my interrogators about my time in the Civil Rights struggle in the 1960s, my arrest and detention in Palace Barracks, in Long Kesh and in the peace talks in 1972. Newspaper articles, photographs of Martin McGuinness and I at Republican funerals, books and other open source material were used as the basis of the accusations made against me.
`Much of the interrogations concerned the so-called Belfast Project conceived by Paul Bew, University lecturer and a former advisor to former Unionist leader David Trimble, and run by Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre as part of Boston College. Both Moloney and McIntyre are opponents of the Sinn Féin leadership and our peace strategy and have interviewed former republicans who are also hostile to me and other Sinn Féin leaders. These former republicans have accused us of betrayal and sell-out and have said we should be shot because of our support for the Good Friday Agreement and policing.
`The allegation of conspiracy in the killing of Mrs McConville is based almost exclusively on hearsay from unnamed alleged Boston College interviewees but mainly from Dolours Price and Brendan Hughes. Other anonymous alleged Belfast Project interviewees were identified only by a letter of the alphabet, eg interview R or Y. One of these is claimed by the PSNI to be Ivor Bell although the interrogators told me he has denied the allegations. I rejected all the allegations made about me in the Boston Tapes.
`Finally, let me be clear. There is only one way for our society to go and that is forward. Yes deal with the past. Yes deal with victims but the focus needs to be on the future. That is the road we are on. There will be bumps in that road. There will be diversions. Obstacles will be erected. We know that.
`I thank everyone for their support. I extend sympathy to the McConville family and all those who have suffered especially at the hands of republicans. My resolve remains as strong as ever. It is to build the peace and see off the sinister forces, who are against equality and justice for everyone.’

Thousands rally to support Gerry Adams
On 3 May a mass rally took place on the Falls Road, as a mural was unveiled. Those present heard speeches, including from Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness, expressing solidarity with the Sinn Fein President. A video of the rally can be seen here.
Around the world, across Europe, the US and in Britain, messages of support also flooded in, including a letter in the Guardian published on 5 May, expressing concerns around the arrest, which was signed by MPs Diane Abbott, Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell and Ken Livingstone, film Director Ken Loach, writer Roy Greenslade, actor Adrian Dunbar and a host of others.

Sinn Fein launch election campaigns across Ireland
`The political landscape is changing’ – Gerry Adams
On 4 May and 6 May Sinn Féin Leader Gerry Adams TD addressed packed election rallies for Sinn Fein’s election campaign across Ireland, in Belfast and Dublin respectively.
In Dublin, the Sinn Féin Leader said that the political landscape in the south of Ireland was changing, and that Sinn Fein’s message was `resonating with greater numbers of people’. He said after 23rd May politics `would be changed even further’.
Gerry Adams also commented that Martin McGuinness’ comments about the danger to the process coming from a ‘dark side’ within the PSNI, the Taoiseach’s response was to suggest he should make a complaint to the Ombudsman. Mr Adams said that this was `about the future of the political process and the Taoiseach suggests a complaint to the Police Omudsman! What about his responsibility?’
He said the Taoiseach `cannot pass the buck on this issue, nor trot out trite responses that have more to do with electoral concerns’. He said the Irish people north and south endorsed the Good Friday Agreement: `It is the people’s agreement’.
Mr Adams added: `Enda Kenny and David Cameron and their governments are the joint guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement. That means standing up to those who threaten it. That means overcoming obstacles to progress. That means providing positive leadership. This is especially true in trying to deal with the difficult issues of legacy, the past, of parades and of flags and emblems’.
Sinn Féin had signed up for the compromise proposals presented by Richard Haass and Meghan O Sullivan, but `the two Unionists parties have not and neither has the British Government’, said Mr Adams, adding `that should be a starting point for the Taoiseach now. The Good Friday Agreement is rooted in equality and that must be the foundation for dealing with legacy issues’.
He said that two weeks ago British Secretary of State Theresa Villiers criticised what she described as the one sided focus on state killings, and `last week she refused a review into the Ballymurphy Massacre by the British Paras of 11 civilians’.
He said there was `a concerted effort by enemies of the peace and political processes to undermine and damage them. The Irish government has to act – not play party politics’.
He said that there was `no doubt’ that Sinn Féin was for `civic, accountable, public service policing’ and would `continue to focus on achieving’ it, but that it was `also clear is that it has not been achieved yet’.
He said the `economic crash destroyed the lives of thousands of our citizens. It disrupted the lives of hundreds of thousands more. 400,000 people have been forced to emigrate from this state. People who worked all their lives are now barely coping. People who invested in pensions have seen their savings wiped out. Young people who studied hard for their chosen career have seen their hopes dashed. There are others who never saw a Celtic Tiger, whose lives remained one of daily struggle throughout that period and who are even worse of now.
He added `Despite all of this upheaval and the change in people’s lives, politics in this state has not changed. For Fine Gael, Labour and Fianna Fáil it is business as usual. That is not acceptable. Change is needed and change is possible. That is what Sinn Fein is about – bringing political change. One party rule in the North is gone and the two-and-a-half party system that has failed the citizens of this state is going also. But politics in this state are changing. Sinn Féin is now a major player in both states on this island with policies, objectives, and an expanding organization which transcends partition.
He concluded: `Sinn Fein is the only real and credible opposition in Leinster House. We have clear and positive alternatives to the policies of austerity embraced by the cosy consensus of Fine Gael, Labour and Fianna Fail. And our message is getting through. It is resonating with greater and greater numbers of citizens throughout this state. That is why I am confident that after 23rd May we will see that the political landscape here has changed even further.’

`1981’ play comes to London
On Sunday 11 May Tony Devlin’s acclaimed play `1989’ depicting the events of the 1981 Hunger Strike, will be performed in London, at the Crown Moran Hotel in Cricklewood, for the first time this Sunday 11 May. The play will be followed by a question and answer session with Tony Devlin and Brendan `Bik’ McFarlane, who was the leader of republican prisoner in the jail during the Hunger Strikes. The discussion will be followed by music from Bik McFarlane afterwards. Some tickets are still available from here but selling fast, so book now to avoid disappointment.

Week in Review is circulated by Sinn Fein MPs. Email fisherj@parliament.uk to join the list. For further information visit www.sinnfein.ie or follow us on twitter @sinnfeinireland