Dáil suspended as Taoiseach clashes with Adams

A bitter outburst of hostility between the Taoiseach and Gerry Adams forced the Dáil to be suspended yesterday as Sinn Féin put down a motion of no confidence in the Government.

Heated exchanges forced the Ceann Comhairle to order a temporary Dáil shutdown after Enda Kenny questioned the Sinn Féin leader’s knowledge of a notorious killing in the North during the Troubles.

The Taoiseach called on Mr Adams to “speak the truth about some elements of your past” as he brought up the 1972 murder of Jean McConville.

“Perhaps you might some day, some day, tell the truth about the tragedy and about the remorse, and about the compassion that should have been shown to Jean McConville,” Mr Kenny said.

Mr Adams demanded the Taoiseach withdrew the remark as he claimed an unsubstantiated charge had been made against him.

As the row intensified, Ceann Comhairle Sean Barrett suspended the session for 10 minutes.

Ms McConville was abducted from her home in Belfast in 1972 by a gang of IRA members on suspicion of being an informant to the British army. After being tortured, she was shot in the back of the head and buried on a beach on Shelling Hill, Co Louth. Her body was not found until 2003. Mr Adams has consistently denied accusations he ordered the killing.

The clash set the tone for a day of conflict between the two parties as Mr Adams accused Mr Kenny of kowtowing before his “masters in Europe”.

Mr Adams ridiculed the Coalition’s claims to have taken tough choices in the budget: “You have made the easy choice to tackle the people who are not organised, who are vulnerable, and on the margins.”

Sinn Féin then tabled a motion of no confidence in the Government, with the party’s finance spokesman Pearse Doherty saying the budget had targeted the weak and vulnerable.

Mr Kenny insisted the budget had been as fair as possible given the grave economic crisis the Government had inherited and with which the country is still struggling.

The Taoiseach said his Government was dealing with a situation on an unprecedented scale.

“In fact, with respect to all of those who went before me, there are few who have ever had to face the scale of the economic challenge we now face here,” Mr Kenny said.