Minister says Adams must own up to alleged IRA links

Gerry Adams is facing pressure to own up about his links with the IRA and to make a public declaration about his involvement with the paramilitary organisation.

European Affairs Minister Paschal Donohoe has launched a scathing attack on the Sinn Féin leader and demanded that he reveals all about his past actions.

In an interview with the Irish Examiner, Mr Donohoe made the call at a time when efforts are under way to resolve tensions and outstanding issues in the peace process. The talks, overseen by former US diplomat Richard Haas, have concluded.

Mr Donohoe said: “I think the time is long past for Gerry Adams to make a declaration as to what he has done and not done in the past. It’s really important that he do so.

“Gerry Adams needs to clear this up himself. I struggle to see how somebody so central in influencing what the IRA did and the peace process could do so at the arms’ length that he has claimed.”

Mr Adams has consistently denied he was a member of the IRA or that he was a commander in a military unit in west Belfast in the 1970s. This is despite the fact he appeared at IRA funerals in his beret in a guard of honour or that talks with the IRA in 1972 were only agreed on a precondition Mr Adams was released from Long Kesh.

Former IRA bomber Dolours Price also said Mr Adams was her “officer commanding” when she was in the IRA.

The Boston Tape testimonies from her and Brendan ‘Darkie’ Hughes, another IRA figure, also say Mr Adams was a commander in 1972 and sanctioned the killing of mother of ten Jean McConville.

There were sharp exchanges in the Dáil before the Christmas break when Taoiseach Enda Kenny said “nobody believes” Mr Adams when he says he was never an IRA member.

Mr Donohoe said the Sinn Féin leader needed to show the same clarity that he demanded in the Dáil of other political parties.

The Dublin Central TD added: “With the regular demands of transparency that he makes of others, he should do so himself.”