Monday’s Irish News spotted the quote of the week from Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams in the interview with Ryan Tubridy. On being “told” “around 19 – 96″ that his father was an abuser, the re-selected Sinn Féin candidate for west Belfast said
“I got professional help and I intend to get therapy.”
Don’t forget to let us know how that works out…
How has Ulster unionism arrived at where it is today – fractured and uncertain, yet dominated electorally by the DUP, a party that tells us it offers unionists sure footing in uncertain times? In his latest book, Ulster’s Last Stand? Reconstructing Unionism after the Peace Process (Irish Academic Press, 2010), Prof. James McAuley from the [...] read our review »
Dr Gordon Gillespie, a researcher at the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen’s University Belfast, gave a presentation on “Graphic Portrayals: Northern Ireland, Graphic Novels and the Peace Process”, at the Linen Hall Library. Gordon started with a clarification that he was going to talk about graphic novels/comic books, not cartoons, and material that was [...] read our review »
The oft-quoted verse from the book of Proverbs, ‘where there is no vision, the people perish,’ (chapter 29, verse 18) opens a new book by Gerry O’Hanlon, A New Vision for the Catholic Church: A View from Ireland (Columba Press, 2011). That verse could be considered an apt summary of the current state of the [...] read our review »
I think you need therapy to deal with your total fixation with Gerry Adams.
Imagine had Gerry got help in his teenage years we would only have had to deal with Paisleyite madness. The troubles might have been avoided.
1# Get real. Did he get therapy on the murder and mayhem he caused to the people of Northern Ireland as a member of the IRA. O dear “I was never a member of the IRA”
The real truth needs to be told and why not start with Gerry (I am a Saint) Adams. No sympathy here. Reap what what you sow
What is it with Adams and Robinson?
First Robinson goes off to work after the wife, we are told, attempted to take her own life. Now, we are informed, that Adams wife had cancer surgery last Thursday, yet he’s off the next day to Dublin to do a TV show.
Strange priorities.
Marlaghman
I was merely pointing out that every day we have yet another Pete Baker blog on Gerry Adams.It is tedious and petty.Gerry Adams in therapy.Who gives a fuck.
What’s the implication? That Gerry’s a nutcase? Or that events in the past forty years should have been enough of a prompt for therapy decades ago? To deal with and maintain family relationships with Aine or Liam may indeed require therapy, not just some friendly advice, personal or professional. Personally I think the post stigmatises people facing difficult personal trauma, get over it, this is 2010 and therapy is seen as being as good for the mind as the gym is for the body. Do people even know what therapy is? Didn’t it used to be electroshock therapy? These days it’s probably congitive behavioural therapy (CBT) or similar and is seen as an effective way to cope with and deal with personal issues like sexual abuse in your family.
skullion
I doubt there are many people who think child abuse tedious or petty.
If Gerry Adams is, at last, getting therapy, I am pleased for him, and have to say it is not before time.
iluvni,
“Strange priorities.”
They’re politicians; they are not as other men.
To which I might add: Thank the living fuck for that.
Skullin it is right to keep his name in the news every day as the victims of his brothers abuse must be kept to the fore, and his failure to report what he knew properly,”this is child abuse” not some brave act for the RM, also what abuse the RM had done and was brushed under the carpet, or was accepted as being ok, by the then leaders of RM.
The whole truth needs to be told and not just Gerry’s side as we must remember that he has being telling lies for the past 30 years and as we see from the past couple of months he has not changed his ways.
He may say what his views are on Jesus but before he can walk with him he needs to repent and confess his sins to God and also to all the victims/survivors in Northern Ireland
Pippakin
Where did i say child abuse was petty?Pete’s obsession with Adams started long before his brother’s alleged crimes came to light.
skullion
I dont know how long Mr Baker has been posting about Gerry Adams but surely he is right to do so. No one who deliberately puts himself in the public eye has the right to dictate what, when and how much information is allowed. I can see some obvious exceptions, for example he is public but his family ordinarily would not be. The allegations of child abuse mean his brother is now as much in the public eye as he is.
The biggest problem Gerry Adams has is of his, and S/Fs own making. The answers we have been given simply do not fit. The excuses used mirror the excuses of the Church and are as blatantly self serving. GA is also alleged to be implicated in the cover up of two rapes.
I do have some sympathy for GA but this subject is too important to allow it to disappear whilst allegations and potential charges are outstanding.
Marlaghman
“He may say what his views are on Jesus but before he can walk with him he needs to repent and confess his sins to God and also to all the victims/survivors in Northern Ireland.”
I suspect your view is shared by more than a few people but I wanted to ask you what you mean by “repent and confess his sins”. As a Catholic, he would normally confess sins to a priest but that’s a private affair.
Pat Robertson and Jim Bakker made famous TV confessions in the past – is this what you mean? Even further back, people used to go around self-flagelatting or wear sackcloth, horsehair shifts and the like. I don’t mean to be flippant but that’s what religious repentance looked like years ago.
What do you mean and what actions do you think would be required to satisfy the “confess and repent” demands which as I say come from more than a few people?
Jaggers
As a Catholic he would normally confess sins to a priest.
There is a distinct danger he and his brother did just that!
Pippakin
This post isn’t about child abuse.Its a piss take on Adams as the last frivolous line explains.Gerry Adams in therapy tee hee.
skullion
A piss take on Gerry Adams? Indeed, like I care!
There are serious allegations awaiting realistic answers. If outstanding warrants dont turn up soon there will be just as serious questions regarding the, already, undue delay.
Tee hee all you want, we are talking child abuse, tee hee hee.
He needs therapy because he was informed at the tender age of 48 that his father was a kiddie fiddler and he just wasn’t mature to cope with the news? It’s 14 years since he was allegedly told, so at what point does he intend to act on his intention to get therapy?
Never mind about Aine, Ms Cahill, and Ms X, it is poor Gerry who is the victim here. Clearly our Gerry needs love, support and understanding at this time and not outrageous questions about why this pathological liar and psychopath implemented a policy within a state-sponsored murder gang of protecting paedophiles, abusers, and rapists at the expense of their victims in order to promote a membership that could be more readily controlled by the security services via their vulnerable points. Such a delicate wee flower as Gerry would never be capable of anything untoward…
pippakin: “we are talking child abuse, tee hee hee.”
Maybe you are Pippakin but Pete Baker certainly isn’t.
When will Pete Baker move to ATW?
Pippakin
Its just not worth explaining is it?
John 14:6
He may confess to what his religious belief are, and they are private, but would you not agree that for someone to demand the truth, as he has done on many occasion and still dose, that that person needs to lead the way and admit to his part in the IRA and also and more importantly what realy happened when he found out that his Niece was abused by his brother,that the only way he knew how to deal with it was to use the RM spin machine.
“confess/repent/admit” use whatever form of words you want but as the old saying goes “even the dogs in the street know” that he is a member of the IRA and if this “statesman” wants the people of Northern Ireland to have some sympathy for him, btw I do have great sympathy for his wife as like most families in Northern Ireland the big C has touched me and I know at first hand the suffering it brings to a family, I believe now is the time to start and let him open the book on his knowledge of the abuse within the RM and that of his Niece
“Adams wife had cancer surgery last Thursday, yet he’s off the next day to Dublin to do a TV show.
Strange priorities.”
I had an op last Monday and made certain that my hubby had business on the other side of the country for Monday and Tuesday. Sometimes the last thing you need is a man flapping and fretting around you.
And I imagine she’d have to be a pretty strong independent woman having stayed married to him all these years… I wish her all the best for her treatment.
Therapy for what exactly?
He claims he doesn`t recall getting abused.
And the news about his fathers broke almost 15 years ago. Why therapy now?
And why is he sharing this with us? Hmmmmmm.
Qubol skullion
Guys, not sure we are reading the same post most comments here are either about or include the subject of child abuse.
I dont know what your problem is. If GA does go to therapy it wont be because of certain hideous deeds in the past. It will be because of child abuse and his alleged implication in its cover up.
How piss takingly funny that is I leave to you both.
Ah, I thought it was the “terrorist past” aspect for which you primarily wanted to see repentance, which is a call I’ve heard elsewhere. But for you for that alleged aspect (dogs in the street have been known to be wrong), an admission in an media interview that he was a member of the IRA and a description of his activity in the IRA would be sufficient to say draw a line under it?
No doubt Liam will be asking for therapy next.
Pippakin
What i am trying to explain to you is this.This post has turned into a thread about child abuse.However if you read the last line in PETE’S post you should realise that this thread was started as a piss take at Adams going into therapy.Not a pisstake by me nor having a laugh at child abuse.
“If GA does go to therapy it wont be because of certain hideous deeds in the past.”
True, but psychopaths have no concern for their victims, being devoid of the capacity to feel remorse and having exceptional ability to rationalise their behaviour for the purpose of self-exoneration, i.e. by blaming others. However, any slight by others against the psychopath is hyped up to life and death dimensions, so Gerry wouldn’t need therapy for what he did to others but would feel that he needs it for what others did to him if that allowed him to see himself as the victim – or, more relevantly, allowed others to see him as the victim. And here it is in Gerry (and his handlers) interests that he is seen as a victim rather than victimiser since that is their strategy to survive the shitstorm that has arisen over how that state-sponsored murder gang processed allegations of sexual abuse by its members..
“Don’t forget to let us know how that works out… ”
6…Subject to the justification by over-riding considerations of the public interest, a journalist shall do nothing which entails intrusion into private grief and distress.
Presumably Mr Baker isnt a journalist.
Good analysis, Alias.
The more I think of this… his poor wife gets diagnosed cancer, and one day later Gerry´s taling about HIS issues, like some neurotic, narcissist.
Can we get Woody Allen to play him in, any future roles?
Sorry about the shoddy grammer above.
Too late to edit?
Scullion
How can I put this – er – I know.
However my main concern is child abuse, so pardon me if I lose no opportunity to ensure that we never see GAs name without quickly spotting sight of the child abuse allegations.
old school
Woody Allen should play Liam Adams, they appear to share certain interests….
So Pippakin are we to assume that whatever thread is started and includes the name Gerry Adams you’re going to talk about nothing else other than child abuse?
old school,
I belive the correct spelling is “Grammar”.
Normal journalistic standards including spelling and ethics do not apply here. And besides you and I (or should that be you and me…….I forget)are not journalists anyway.
posted by Kathleen Collins
As a political figure and a person people are asked to endorse by their votes…gerry’s actions and statements can and should be discussed. It is gerry adams who mentioned he got professional help and intends to get therapy…he brought it into the public domain. I have a question for gerry…he found out his father had sexually abused some of his siblings (we don’t know male or female) approx. 14 years ago. When does he intend to go to therapy? How many more years must transpire? And another question…this desire to have therapy…was it a result of just finding out his father sexually abused his children or was the desire there years and years and years ago when he believed his own brother had sexually abused his daughter? We now know that gerry wasn’t going to therapy the day after his beloved wife’s cancer surgery because he was on the telly letting the world know that he intends to go to therapy (some day or year from now).
I see it…he wasn’t there for his niece, he wasn’t there to protect or even get a clue that his father was abusing gerry’s siblings and he wasn’t there for his wife the day after surgery. I see it that…Gerry just isn’t there for his family. And the people of northern ireland have to determine will he be there for them?
skullion
No, you may not assume anything about me. If for no other reason than Id be sure to surprise you.
I mention child abuse when I feel the subject merits it. GA may (denies) have done many terrible things, and he may have caused others to do terrible things, but if you think he would get or need therapy for any of those you are very naive. It may even be that this is some cynical attempt to sidetrack the sympathy toward the victims, whatever, it is legitimate to raise the subject of child abuse on this post and others of a similar nature.
Jaggers
We all know what he is, but to start to believe a man that has lied for most of his life to do with his IRA membership, we are now asked to feel sympathy because it has taken him 14 odd years for him to seek treatment, hello, The child abuse that he never told about? the pedo brother that he got through out of sf and ends up working in a sf office a stones through away? he knew he was still working with children in west belfast? and lets not forget he was working in the west belfast monastery. He knew for he tryed to cover his back by telling more lies. Child abuse is more important than his evil past as a provo
sorry for the spelling above
Marlaghman
‘Child abuse is more important than his evil past as a provo’
I totally agree with you.
Just a thought. Do you think MI5 would have known what was going on and used this to persude Gerry to the table and away from the gun & the bullet. Aul mind starting to work overtime
Marlaghman
It’s certainly a possibility and I said so myself in a previous thread.
Marlaghman
I have wondered the same thing, what I find hard to understand is how, so called dedicated republicans, made it so easy for them. Our ‘heroes’ didnt even need a traditional honey trap!
It appears to be a classic example of ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’ and fully explains why we should never go back to those terrible times.
It also shows why, at the end of all trials, a full public investigation must be carried out, to establish just who, if anyone, thought it was ok to sacrifice children to any cause.
We are talking of “COLLUSION” here?
Marlaghman
Would you be surprised. The Brits didnt apparently need to introduce a ‘femme fatale’. All they would have had to do is wait for these perverts to do their ‘thing’.
Who knows if its collusion. We do know it is odd, very odd. We also know the Brits would have been watching, very, very carefully.
The truth is if they had wanted GA, MMcG or anyone else dead, dead they would bloody well be. Ask the Israelis!
It would seam then that if this is the case then the provo’s were as much directed as the loylist were, and would also confirm the rummers that have always been around that M15 had infiltrated the provos at the highest level. My! my! and the sitting MP for West Belfast has just been selected to stand again, we can take it, on a SF/MI5 ticket
Marlaghman
Do your really believe Gerry dealing with a child abuse claim, badly, brought about decommissioning and the claim, ‘the war is over’? Seems like wishful thinking to me. The way people talk on this site is laughable. They are clearly on here just to attack Adams. So much of the hatred seems to be reserved for Adams and not the actual peodophiles or rapists responsible. How can him having some knowledge of the case and not handling it well be compared to someone’s murder? As much as Adams has done wrong on this affair, I am not going to pretend I would know what to do if I found out a brother and my father were peadophiles, I don’t know how anybody would deal with that. Though I really would be screwed for answers when I went to the police who then decided it was not in their interest to follow up on the claims.
I have to agree with skullion on this, I don’t believe Pete Baker was trying to open a discussion on the cover up of child abuse. Pippakin soon sorted this one out though.
Peter Fyfe
I do not hate Gerry Adams, my not very good little blog, Item ten – the sins of the fathers, was one of the first to suggest he might have been telling the truth about child abuse in his family.
There is a problem with what the public and ‘secret services’ knew. We will not know the truth until after any trials have taken place.
All I am saying is, if these men are found guilty, then I dont see how the security services didnt know about it. Time will show.
For now, on the subject of child abuse, GA does have my sympathy, but he needs to be a lot more open in his answers.
I have said before, on this thread, I believe the subject of GA getting therapy is directly related to the allegations of child abuse, thats why I mentioned it, and Im glad I did, we cannot let this subject ‘go away.’
Gerry Adams gets therapy !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgBD94cs0T8&feature=related
Pippakin
I agree he needs to be more open as I have said so myself in previous threads, this thread appeared to be running away with itself though. I guess I am disillusioned by the lack of a police response to the problems. When the state willfully ignored the rape of young women for their own ends, I wonder what good trying to get the truth out of Gerry ‘I was never in the IRA’ Adams really is?
Peter Fyfe
I know this interminable delay is disheartening and disquieting.
GA may be telling the truth as far as he feels able but his story has more holes than my collandar!
If the Brits were involved in the coverup of these crimes, something we cant even investigate until after the trials, then the victims would have good reason to ask some very serious questions of the British government.
It is a holy mess! but we have to keep on asking questions, for the victims, but also for the future. It must never happen again.
Gerry classing himself as a victim (the RM spin machine in full flow)what next that he is truly an unionist at heart?
posted by Kathleen Collins
Isn’t it long since the time gerry adams leaves the political stage…then he has the timem to get as much therapy as he thinks he needs.