Adams offers to meet parents whose children met brother

SINN Féin president Gerry Adams has offered to meet the parents of children who came into contact with his suspected paedophile brother when he was employed as a youth worker in Belfast.

Mr Adams made the offer during a BBC radio interview during which he said: “I’m not above reproach on this and obviously I would handle different issues differently because you learn more and more how to deal with these issues.”

Liam Adams, 58, is believed to be on the run in the Republic following the issuing of a warrant for his arrest by a Belfast court in November 2008.

He is charged with 23 counts of physical and sexual abuse involving his daughter. The offences date back to the late-1970s to the mid-1980s.

The situation came to light on Friday when Liam Adams’s daughter waived her anonymity to appear on a television documentary outlining the allegation of abuse against her father.

One of the youth groups which employed Liam Adams has demanded answers from the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the social services about why they were not informed about the allegations of paedophilia which were initially reported to the RUC in the mid-1980s.

A spokesperson for the Beechmount Community Project, for which Liam Adams worked between November 2004 and May 2006, said: “We have never received any complaint from any child, young person or their parent, or staff member, with respect to Liam Adams and his period of employment here.”

Liam Adams was also employed as a part-time youth worker at Clonard Youth Centre in west Belfast between 1998 and 2003.

This group said they had no concerns over his employment.

In the 1990s Liam Adams was employed by a Dundalk youth group and was active in Sinn Féin in that town.

Gerry Adams said he had his brother expelled from the party after it came to his attention that he was seeking a nomination to run in the 1997 Dáil elections.

Mr Adams faced questioning yesterday about his future as Sinn Féin leader. However, party vice-president, Mary Lou McDonald, has come out in strong support of Mr Adams and there is believed to be little internal pressure on the Belfast MP to step down from the top position.

One west Belfast resident told the Irish Examiner: “The general feeling is one of dismay in the community. Gerry Adams has been an omnipresent political figure for a generation here and no one had an inkling about this until the weekend.”