Adams denies SF role in Rafferty death

SINN FÉIN president Gerry Adams denied his party had any involvement in the murder of Dublin man Joseph Rafferty who was shot dead last April.

He also dismissed as nonsense allegations that republicans held onto 300 weapons following decommissioning.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said he will ask Mr Adams about allegations by the dead man’s sister that republicans were involved in the killing.

Mr Adams, visiting the European institutions for the first time, described Mr Rafferty’s death as a brutal murder and one of a series of murders in Dublin in the recent past. He said people should help the family and anybody with information should to go to the gardaí, as it was a matter for them.

“This is a matter for the garda. Jo Rafferty’s killing was a very, very brutal murder - one of a series of such murders in Dublin in the recent past.”

When asked if there was any Sinn Féin involvement he said: “Not as far as we can establish, there was not any involvement. We repudiate the killing.”

He repeated his offer to meet the family. “If there is anything they want us to do that we can do, we will do it.” His first offer, made last week, was rejected by Mr Rafferty’s sister, Esther Uzell, saying she would meet him only if he was prepared to give her straight answers to her queries.

Asked about the murder in East Belfast yesterday of the UDA brigadier Jim Gray, Mr Adams said he did not know very much about it. “But I condemn all these murders - each of them diminishes the body politic. We must make sure that the peace process works and the vacuum that exists is brought to an end as quickly as possible.”

Mr Adams was meeting Regional Development Commissioner Danuta Hubner who has said she hopes to allocate funds for a Peace 3 programme from the 2006-2014 budget which is yet to be agreed. Ireland benefited by about €700m from the first and second Peace programmes.