“At the end of the day there has to be a realisation from republicans that they don’t own the road”

There’s a lot of coverage of today’s “worthwhile” meeting between Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams and the North and West Belfast Parades [and Culture] Forum.  Not that the North and West Belfast Parades Forum haven’t met others before. And as the UTV report notes Forum spokesman Tommy Cheevers said the mood of the meeting was “business-like.” “This is not about negotiating over individual parades but about finding a way forward.” When asked if Sinn Fein should be “prepared to compromise” on the …

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Decency vs. necessity and that big river in Africa

With the discovery of what seem to be the remaims of Charlie Armstrong almost 30 years after his disappearance,  Gerry Adams has persisted with a claim the IRA had no involvement in his death. Well, there’s no evidence to suggest that the IRA was involved Of course Adams and the IRA have form for denying involvement in ‘disappearing’ people. Despite (very belatedly) admitting other killings and disposal of bodies, until recently they denied anything to do with Joe Lynskey’s disappearance …

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“The issue of Carson is academic…”

At the press launch of the inaugural “Poc ar an Cnoc” Edward Carson Hurling Trophy, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams leaned heavily on the image of ‘Carson the hurler’ to explain what could have been seen as a deliberately provocative gesture “I discovered, much to my surprise, that Carson was a hurler in his days at Trinity College (Dublin),” said Adams at Monday’s launch in Parliament Buildings. “So this man who is arguably the father of unionism was also a Gael …

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Enda Kenny to Gerry Adams: “no party require[s] an army council in a time of peace”

Having survived an attempted leadership coup last week, Enda Kenny was in Belfast today.  The BBC reports that the Fine Gael leader again ruled out any possibility of his party forming a coalition government with Sinn Féin because the Provisional IRA army council has not been ‘stood down’.  Gerry Adams is “hugely” offended.  From the BBC report The Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny has again said he would not share power with Sinn Fein because the IRA army council has not been stood down. Mr Kenny is …

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Adams, SF, West Belfast and a missing 10%?

Gerry Adams was always guaranteed to take West Belfast and he did at a canter – 71% of the vote. I will attempt to delve into the numbers and forgive me if this gets confusing and correct me if I am wrong.. In 2005 he took 24K votes from 34.5K on a 64% turnout. With the boundary changes he should have expected 27K (+3K) votes from 39.5K (+5K). Turnout was down 10% so to tread water Adams should have received …

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Gerry McGeough confronts Gerry Adams

The Irish News reports that Gerry McGeough took the opportunity to have a quiet word with his former comrade-in-arms associate, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, when the latter was canvassing at the gates of St Patrick’s Church in Eglish, County Tyrone.  Gerry McGeough is currently being tried on charges of attempted murder, possession of two revolvers and being in the IRA between 1975 and 1981.  From the Irish News report It is understood that after the exchange, Mr Adams leaned against the church …

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Gerry Adans should leave politics and attend to his shattered family

If Gerry Adams thinks the scandal of the alleged abuse of his niece has gone away, he can think again. Thomas Gagen a former leader writer for the Boston Globe argues that what he did in trying to keep the scandal quiet was akin to what the Catholic Church did in visiting Irish priests it suspected of being child abusers upon the US and then had them moved from parish to parish… Like the bishops, Adams kept quiet about his …

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Adams recommended his brother to candidature of a Dail seat in 1997…

So according to the Insight Special programme (and as noted first by Pete and now Suzy), Gerry Adams knew of his niece’s abuse at the hands of her father (his brother) for 22 years… So, why then, according to Anthony McIntyre, did Gerry Adams “promote a man who he firmly believed to be a child rapist as a possible contender for a Dail seat in 1997”? UPdate: IOL confirm what one of our commenters wje noted on Pete’s thread on …

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Gerry Must Go

So sez Squinter, 20 years on, Gerry must face the truth: “Adams has been the West Belfast MP for 20 years. If a week is a long time in politics, then 20 years is the Upper Paleolithic Age. It is in that same 20-year period that the slow, steady decline into chaos in certain parts of West Belfast began, and it was on his watch that it has gathered pace to become the runaway train that it is today. …there …

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Adams on Blair’s vision…

In an interview with Andrew Cawthorne, Gerry Adams praises Tony Blair’s vision: The strategic vision, I think, which marked Tony Blair’s involvement in this process some years ago and which was part of bringing about the Good Friday agreement, part of all of the changes which have flowed, has not been reflected in the actions of his Secretary of State over the last 18 months. In the more immediate term, John Reid has announced the formation of an action group …

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Adams: let’s hear it for the Union

Gerry Adams calls for dialogue on the advantages of the Union. It’s hard to gauge how well such a proposal has gone down with Unionists themselves, though some have suggested that this is part of a ‘good cop – bad cop’ strategy, with Adams being good and others playing it tough. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and …

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