Adams tweet: I have never been a member of ISIS

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has taken to Twitter to declare that he is not involved with the terror group ISIS.

“I am not & I never have been a member of ISIS,” he announced.

The tweet drew a mixed reaction. The first response read: “Christ, you are some prick.”

ISIS, or Islamic State, controls tracts of Syria and Iraq and has provoked global revulsion for its beheading of prisoners, mass rapes, slavery, and indiscriminate murders.

The Sinn Féin leader has repeatedly denied that he was ever a member of the IRA — a claim political opponents have ridiculed.

Mr Adams’ tweet was an apparent response to comments by Fine Gael TD Noel Coonan who warned the Dáil that Ireland faced a “potential ISIS situation” if anti-water charging protests were allowed to escalate.

Mr Adams, who opposes water charges, has been embroiled in controversy recently after rape victim Maíria Cahill alleged the republican movement has a history of facilitating the movement of rapists and paedophiles from the North to the Republic.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said: “Trying to court internet popularity by joking about an organisation that just a few days ago murdered an innocent aid worker is obviously inappropriate, but it is consistent with a pattern of very odd behaviour.”