Adams’s brother could face new year extradition hearing

THE suspected paedophile brother of Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams could face an extradition hearing in an Irish court early in 2010.

Liam Adams, 58, who is wanted by the PSNI in relation to 23 charges of child abuse since November 2008, walked into a Garda station in Sligo on December 21 where he was interviewed. He was later released, because gardaí did not have a European arrest warrant to serve on him.

It has been reported that it may be several weeks before the PSNI have the necessary paperwork completed to issue a European arrest warrant. However, a legal source has informed the Irish Examiner that, “if there was sufficient importance placed on its preparation”, a European arrest warrant could be presented within days.

The legal expert added: “There are clearly no grounds whatsoever for Liam Adams to mount the usual republican defence to extradition to the UK, that of political motivation. This defence is no longer a full defence to extradition within the EU anyway. On the issue of claiming he can no longer get a fair trial due to media coverage, the only prejudicial statements which have been widely disseminated in the media, which I’m aware of, were made by Mr Adams’s brother, Gerry.”

The Sinn Féin president is continuing to come under media scrutiny for his account of how he dealt with the allegations. In 1987, Gerry Adams was informed by Áine Tyrell, 36, Liam’s daughter, that she had been repeatedly sexually abused by her father. Mr Adams has claimed from that date he was “estranged” from his brother and sought to have him removed from Sinn Féin and youth work. However, the Sunday Tribune published pictures yesterday showing Gerry and Liam Adams canvassing together for Sinn Féin in Dundalk in 1997. Two youth groups in Belfast and one in Dundalk, where Liam Adams worked during the 1990s up to 2005, have also stated they have no record of being warned about the allegations of child sex abuse.

In the wake of the public outing of the allegations, the Sinn Féin president revealed his father, Gerry Adams senior, was a child abuser. The issue has caused concern among republicans, but Adams is being backed by his party colleagues. One republican source said: “If Adams had revealed this situation in the late 80s, it would have been pressing the self-destruct button on not only his career, but his political project. Few can condemn him for, in the face of many challenges, pushing the peace process.”