Former Hunger Striker Calls on Adams to Resign from Sands Trust
Former Hunger Striker Gerard Hodgins has called upon Gerry Adams to resign from the Bobby Sands Trust in light of his actions surrounding the accusations against his brother, Liam Adams. The Sands Trust is currently run out of the Sinn Fein offices on the Falls Road, and its members are Gerry Adams, Danny Morrison, Tom Hartley, Jim Gibney, Brendan ‘Bik’ McFarlane, Sile Darragh, Caral Ni Chuilin, and Peter Madden (Madden and Finucane represent the Trust). Hartley, Morrison and Adams have been on the Trust since its inception. The Sands family have rejected the Trust and have publicly called for it to be wound up. “We came to look closer at the Trust and in turn were concerned at the lack of control or accountability”, said one family source. “There were no records of minutes etc. or proper accounts and it was debatable if they ever functioned as a Trust but rather as an extension of SF.”
There was also family concern over an alleged attempt by Sinn Féin to insert a clause in the new Trust which would have made Gerry Adams a financial beneficiary. “It came in the draft version of the new trust documents drawn up in 1994 though Adams said that it should read the president of Sinn Féin of the day. We didn’t agree to either”.
In related news, Sinn Fein Vice President Mary Lou McDonald has said anyone found to have covered up the abuse of children should be arrested: “Anyone found to be complicit in the cover up of child abuse must be arrested and made to face the full rigours of the law.”
Hodgins’ letter to the Irish News is very hard hitting; its full text, along with McDonald’s press release, follows below the jump. Full text of former hunger striker Gerard Hodgins’ letter:
Ten years ago the family of Bobby Sands asked Gerry Adams and Danny Morrison to wind up The Bobby Sands Trust; their reasons for this included they don’t believe The Bobby Sands Trust is all Gerry and Danny claim it to be.
Bobby Sands was a man of principle, a man of honour, a man of courage and a man of unblemished character. He has inspired thousands throughout the globe in their struggles for social justice and remains a beacon of hope for the oppressed, the imprisoned and the socially conscious.
In the intervening years since Bobby’s family asked Adams and Morrison to wind up the organisation they run using Bobby’s name, much has come to light about the high level of penetration of the Provisional leadership by British intelligence agencies: so much so in fact it is difficult not to juxtapose this information alongside the new found ostentatious wealth of the Provisional leadership and not conclude there is truth in there!
The latest episode on the true face behind the Provisional leadership mask is a very disturbing one, given that it concerns the rape and abuse of children and the manipulation of that heinous crime by the Police, intelligence agencies and the Provisional leadership: nobody cared for the victim, all had their own agendas.
Whether Gerry Adams remains or goes as the leader of Sinn Fein is an irrelevance to me and I wouldn’t comment on it other than to say Gerry is probably the most morally apt person to lead an organisation which appears, in its upper echelons at least, to be a depository for informers, paedophiles and God knows what else.
I would call on him to resign immediately though from The Bobby Sands Trust as I believe further association with a discredited Provisional leadership besmirches and dishonours the sacrifces Bobby and the other men of ’81 made in the name of freedom. One of Bobby’s most famous quotes is: our revenge will be the laughter of our children!
Gerry Adams is not a man who can continue this charade that he and he alone speaks for Bobby, the hunger strikers, the Blanketmen and women. Not in my name Gerry, most definitely not in my name!
Is Hodgins’ viewpoint representative of Adams’ constituency? Squinter, writing in the Andersonstown News, doesn’t think so. He puts down any concerns over Adams’ political behaviour to ‘the usual suspects’ and ‘professional Adams-bashers’ and says that the true consensus is “Adams has shown a lot of courage and class, and that he and his family should be given the time and the space to endure and to heal”.
Gerry Adams also disparages the media in his latest blog entry, which is a folksy walk through the bog meadows, dismissing the coverage of the story out of hand: “‘I’ll tell you about the ones with their own wee agenda some other time,’ I smiled. They usually write for the Sunday World, the Sunday Times, papers of that ilk. I stopped buying the Sunday papers about ten years ago. A waste of a Sunday morning. Pages of half truths, opinions, bias, lies. Better buying a decent novel’.” (Curiously, when Adams’ blog entry first went up late last night, the Irish News was also mentioned; that reference has since been removed)
Arrest and charge those complicit in child abuse cover up – McDonald
November 28, 2009
Commenting this morning on the report on clerical sexual abuse of children in the Dublin Diocese Sinn Féin Vice President Mary Lou McDonald said anyone found to have covered up the abuse of children should be arrested and face the full rigours of the law.
Ms. McDonald described the State’s child protection services as a disgrace and said sadly the abuse of children continues today.
Ms. McDonald said:
“The report on clerical sexual abuse of children in Dublin exposes how the most powerful men in the Catholic Church in the Dublin Diocese conspired to protect abusers of children. It was a gross betrayal of generations of children.
“It is especially damning that the State authorities facilitated the cover-up and allowed the Church to be beyond the reach of the law. Senior Gardai, up to and including the level of Commissioner, repeatedly turned a blind eye to crimes of clerical sexual abuse.
“Anyone, including Gardaí, found to be complicit in the cover up of child abuse must be arrested and made to face the full rigours of the law.
“The Government must take immediate action in response to the Report’s finding that the legislation governing the role of the HSE in dealing with child sexual abuse is inadequate.
“Like the Ryan Report, this report must prompt the Government to act urgently to protect vulnerable children today. Another recent report led to the closure of the facility at Ballydowd. It exposes serious deficits in standards aimed at safeguarding vulnerable children.
“Sadly child abuse is not a thing of the past and is continuing today and, to the shame of successive Governments in this state our child protection services are a disgrace. The HSE knows of cases where children are in grave danger but the services are not in place to make the interventions required.
“If the State does not put in place the services for the protection of children then it will be just as culpable as it was in the past when it facilitated the cover up of child sex abuse.” ENDS
Be a good troll now and tell me what specifically you consider to be fiction. It’s hard to tell as you haven’t actually challenged anything, merely evaded and obscured.
Off you go, what don’t you believe?
So is MLM going to do the decent thing and ensure that the same standards are applied within SF and that anyone complicit be made to face the full rigours of the law.
Maybe its just that GA mis-remembered,always look on the bright side ,or maybe he was Lying .
Well lots of people would have had to be involved, Do you think Adams run the IRA on his own, more people would have needed to be compromised and they would have all had to be in the leadership of the IRA, for all that has happened and for all that to take place would have been taken colectivly not adams on his own. I dont believe anything that comes from the bbc their the enemy.
25.Gerard Hodgins(sic) has nothing between his ears. He is being tutored by someone. Who and why?
Posted by socaire
Ah brave anonymous poster and Adamsite cult member, do tell me where did all the money come from for the bars, taxi firms, landlordism and other enterprises owned by the party loyalists?
Thought as much. Massive fail, now run along.
#
Thought as much. Massive fail, now run along.
Posted by Mr Crowley on Dec 30, 2009 @ 12:03 AM
Well your entitled to your oponion but because I dont believe it your doing a Laim Adams impression, Mmm maybe you know where he’s coming from.
Which Adams are you misspelling here; Liam Adams or Lame Adams? [see commenting policy - edited moderator] Your projection here is a further indication of your desperation and moral bankruptcy
Which Adams are you misspelling here; Liam Adams or Lame Adams? [see commenting policy - edited moderator] Your projection here is a further indication of your desperation and moral bankruptcy
Must have hit a raw nerve there, but abusers are abusers aren’t they. Im just following your logic !
No, you are merely trolling and indulging in weasel like projection. But seeing as you have raised the issue of Liam Adams again, whom Gerry believes to be a paedophile, do you believe that Gerry took adequate and appropriate steps to warn parents whose children may have been endangered in the 22 years that GA has claimed to have known that LA was a paedophile; particularly considering that LA was a youth worker in West Belfast from 1998-2006?
No, you are merely trolling and indulging in weasel like projection. But seeing as you have raised the issue of Liam Adams again, whom Gerry believes to be a paedophile, do you believe that Gerry took adequate and appropriate steps to warn parents whose children may have been endangered in the 22 years that GA has claimed to have known that LA was a paedophile; particularly considering that LA was a youth worker in West Belfast from 1998-2006?
Trolling ! The only way to find truth nowdays isn’t it, not going to be a sheep now am I believing anything people tell me.
No Gerry Adams didn’t take adequate and appropriate steps, he said so himself. As regards the youth clubs, well thats the question we all want answered.
You’re fairly content to believe anything that GA says. Do you also believe that he wasn’t in the IRA and hasn’t bought a Sunday paper in 10 years?
You’re fairly content to believe anything that GA says. Do you also believe that he wasn’t in the IRA and hasn’t bought a Sunday paper in 10 years?
Im certainly NOT content with everything he says, I dont even vote, never have, as for the IRA question – please thats an enigma, Sunday paper – little white lie. close conections with his brother – love, loyalty, empathy, well need I say more but that all added up does not make him out to be what your suggesting.
tacapall
did you really mean ‘empathy’ in terms of Gerry and Liam Adams? Are you suggesting that Gerry could feel ‘empathy’ for a man accused of incest in the form of child rape?
Why devote so much of your time and effort to his defense?
“Empathy for his brother”. as for other people, ununderstanding perhaps.
Why devote so much of your time and effort to his defense?
I make no apoligies for being an Irishman and what we hear on the news these days well its like media marketting, something in the way of your agenda or progress just destroy it.
tacapall,
What defines an Irishman these days?
What defines an Irishman these days?
I can only speak for myself but to me, I will never forget the starvation of the irish people, twice, some people call it the famine, but lets be honest. My ancestors survived that and war and whatever else her enimies subjected her to. I am not bitter nor do I hold any grudge, but thats what makes me Irish.
posted by Kathy Collins
Maybe it’s time for the Bobby Sands trust to be turned over to…Bobby Sands son.
“My ancestors survived that”
Thanks for clearing that up.
“You get to read between the lines sometimes. That’s how”
So, again basing your assetion on a subjective interpretation by ‘reading between the lines’?
“I dunno but I assume that they must be as their leader is”
Another ‘fact’ based on selective assumption JOC?
I wonder how Eamonn De Valera, Fidel Castro, Nelson Mandela etc were abused by their fathers?
Jimmy Sands, hilarious
JOC, come off it man. For the 2nd coming of Christ you seemed to be filled with hate and venom.
Mr Crowley-you are convinced Gerry is a British agent?
I believe that he has long been surrounded by compromise, coupled with British intelligence services contact.
At the very least he was most definitely manipulated by the British and has shown considerable traits of self preservation at any cost.
Add to this the fact that the British made any serious effort to prosecute or liquidate him despite what would have to have been considerable evidence against him, both physical and circumstantial, and he appears more and more questionable as time goes on.
His actions have certainly aided the British cause more than the Irish Republican cause so it would be fair to call him a British asset imo.
I believe that he has long been surrounded by compromise, coupled with British intelligence services contact.
At the very least he was most definitely manipulated by the British and has shown considerable traits of self preservation at any cost.
Add to this the fact that the British never made any serious effort to prosecute or liquidate him despite what would have to have been considerable evidence against him, both physical and circumstantial, and he appears more and more questionable as time goes on.
His actions have certainly aided the British cause more than the Irish Republican cause so it would be fair to call him a British asset imo.
Brian MacAodh
JOC, come off it man. For the 2nd coming of Christ you seemed to be filled with hate and venom.
Leave the spin behind, Brian.
I don’t hate anybody but I get slightly elated when a wait of 23 years is over (since I worked out Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley at 666) and the Antichrist is exposed and defeated by his own family. The best part is that it didn’t have to be me who defeated him as I don’t think I fancy being attacked by his deluded followers for the rest of my life. Same went for Paisley of course.
On 14 March 1984, Adams was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt when several Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) gunmen fired about twenty shots into the car in which he was travelling. After the shooting, under-cover plain clothes police officers seized three suspects who were later convicted and sentenced.[11] One of the three was John Gregg. Adams claimed that the British army had prior knowledge of the attack and allowed it to go ahead.[12]
So British agents were trying to kill another British agent and why would this suit the British.
tacapall
‘The inhabitants worshipped the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed,’ (Rev 13:12).
tacapall
‘The inhabitants worshipped the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed,’ (Rev 13:12).
John do me a favour, I think her upstairs is a witch, is there any chance of sending round the witchfinder general to burn her at the stake, she’s giving me evil looks I think she cast a spell on me.
tacapall: My ancestors survived that …
So your ancestors ate while their neighbours starved. So what’s the difference between the Irish and the English other than that your Irish ancestors had a better view?
So your ancestors ate while their neighbours starved. So what’s the difference between the Irish and the English other than that your Irish ancestors had a better view?
I suppose they stole food, got help from the Quakers, drank the blood of animals, some were probably hung for that, the lords and ladies didn’t want their fat cows going thin maybe. The difference being the English exported tons of food out of the country while the Irish survived it, just like their culture, their language and their spirit. Perfidious Albion as they say.
“On 14 March 1984, Adams was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt when several Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) gunmen fired about twenty shots into the car in which he was travelling. After the shooting, under-cover plain clothes police officers seized three suspects who were later convicted and sentenced.[11] One of the three was John Gregg. Adams claimed that the British army had prior knowledge of the attack and allowed it to go ahead.[12]
So British agents were trying to kill another British agent and why would this suit the British. ”
They did have prior knowledge. They also substituted the ammo or sabotaged the gun to make the bullets less deadly. What all this comes out to I have no idea. In this Dirty War it seems like nothing is as they seemm sometimes.
They did have prior knowledge. They also substituted the ammo or sabotaged the gun to make the bullets less deadly. What all this comes out to I have no idea. In this Dirty War it seems like nothing is as they seemm sometimes.
True ! But then he almost died and so did others, the shooting was indiscriminate they raked the car. Although he wasn’t, but he could have easily been shot in the head, pure chance that he wasn’t. Very risky way to give the illusion that a high ranking agent wasn’t a high ranking agent.
tacapall
About the witch upstairs, I hope she turns you into a human being one of these days, not an excuser of republicanism.
Sorry John, couldn’t help it, but im not religious.
Being as this thread is about the Bobby Sands Trust…
Why don’t the Sands family just publish Bobby’s writings and poetry themselves and defy those who high-jacked his name and legacy to sue them…
I would doubt they would sue.
Well they Do belong and legally should, to the Sands family.
Or Gordon Lightfoot
Re my 12.27 JOC?
“After the shooting, under-cover plain clothes police officers seized three suspects who were later convicted and sentenced.[11] One of the three was John Gregg”
Who were the other two?
Paul McMahon
Do you really depend so much on my answers that you’ll wait days for them?
I wonder how Eamonn De Valera, Fidel Castro, Nelson Mandela etc were abused by their fathers?
I would flatter the republican movement by assuming that Gerry Adams is in the same league as these men. None of these men have engaged in the commission of crimes against their own people. None has admitted that they were brought up by an abusive father, but Gerry Adams has.
I do agree that putting Gerry in the category of those men is ridiculous. But…
” None of these men have engaged in the commission of crimes against their own people.”
Fidel Castro’s regime killed more people in its first 6 years than Adolf Hitler’s regime did in its first 6 years. Political prisoners were routinely imprisoned and tortured. I don’t know if they are still tortured now but they are imprisoned indefinately.
I stand corrected, Brian. I should have realised really though.
“Do you really depend so much on my answers that you’ll wait days for them”
I’m afraid that your conceited egomania is showing agin JOC.
Adams is not in the same league as any of these men they were analogous is dispelling your claim that men of violence are motivated by abusive fathers.
Paul McMahon
I don’t think so somehow. It disproves nothing.
A lack of empathy is at the root of the personality of violent leaders. Whether it comes from abuse in their childhoods is neither here nor there. Hate arises from any number of sources but is expressed through more hate either in the form of violence or a sense of superiority that often leads to violence ( as we in NI all know)..
“Whether it comes from abuse in their childhoods is neither here nor there”
Then why did you claim men of violence were motivated by abusive fathers?
“Hate arises from any number of sources”
What source does your hatred of SF emanate from?
Paul McMahon
Then why did you claim men of violence were motivated by abusive fathers?
Because some of them are.
What source does your hatred of SF emanate from?
I have no hatred of SF, only pity that they cannot live truthful, loving lives. But Gerry Adams is the Antichrist and SF is his vehicle.