Adams expresses regret for Birmingham pub bombings
As a 30th anniversary memorial service took place in Birmingham, Mr Adams said in Belfast: “I certainly regret what happened and I make no bones about that.”
But he appeared to pour cold water on recent expectations the IRA would issue an apology for the bombings, for which it has never admitted responsibility.
The West Belfast MP pointed to a statement issued by the IRA two years ago when it apologised for all civilians killed and injured during its campaign. “My recollection very clearly is that the IRA apologised for all the actions it engaged in which civilians were killed or injured.”
At the memorial service at the Anglican St Philip’s Cathedral, hundreds of people, including survivors, gathered to remember the 21 people who died when bombs ripped through two city centre pubs.
Dozens more were injured in the attacks on The Tavern in the Town and the Mulberry Bush on November 21, 1974, which were blamed on the IRA and led to reprisal attacks on the city’s Irish community.
Six Irish men - Hugh Callaghan, Paddy Hill, Gerard Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, William Power and John Walker - were convicted of carrying out the atrocity in 1975. But in 1991, the Appeal Court quashed their convictions.
Former IRA commander Anthony McIntyre insisted that the IRA should apologise unreservedly. The political activist and critic of the present Sinn Féin leadership, who spent 18 years in prison for IRA activity including the murder of a loyalist, told the Sunday Mercury newspaper: “If you bump into someone in the street it’s mere courtesy to say ‘sorry’ - if you slaughter 21 innocent civilians it’s imperative that you apologise.”
