Gerry Adams: ’I never pulled a trigger, ordered a murder or set off a bomb’
Mr Adams makes the claims in a major interview with US TV to be broadcast tomorrow following continuing allegations he was a senior member of the IRA, something he has always denied.
The Sinn Féin leader was pressed on the notorious 1972 abduction and murder of mother of 10 Jean McConville by the IRA.
When asked by the interviewer: “How do you orphan 10 children? What kind of depravity is that?” Mr Adams says all wars have casualties.
“That’s what happens in war. That’s not to minimise it. That’s what American soldiers do, British soldiers do, Irish republican soldiers do. That’s what happens in every single conflict,” Mr Adams says in the interview in which he denies any involvement in what happened to Ms McConville.
A trailer for the CBS show 60 Minutes refers to the fact “many people believe” Mr Adams could be prime minister of the Irish Republic one day and is therefore careful about questions regarding the IRA.
“I don’t disassociate myself from the IRA. I think the IRA was a legitimate response to what was happening here. But I was not a member of the IRA,” Mr Adams said.
Following the release to the PSNI of taped recordings with republican figures collated by Boston College, Mr Adams says he approached the police to discuss the issues regarding Ms McConville’s murder.
The Sinn Féin leader was then held in detention by the PSNI for four days last year as he was questioned regarding the abduction and murder.
“To be quite honest I was sick, sore and tired of a tsunami of stories based on these tapes linking me to Mrs McConville’s death.
“So I contacted the police and said, ‘Look you want to talk to me, I’m here to talk.’
“They said that I was a senior member of the IRA at managerial level so I’m bound to have known.
“I told them I didn’t,” Mr Adams told US TV.
The CBS preview states Mr Adams says he never pulled a trigger, ordered a murder or set off a bomb.
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