I’ve never been a member of the IRA, says Adams

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said today he had never been a member of the IRA.

Security sources have alleged Mr Adams was a leading member of the organisation when IRA bombs claimed the lives of seven civilians and two soldiers in Belfast, in what has become known as Bloody Friday.

However, the west Belfast MP rejected this.

Speaking on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the atrocity, when the city was blasted by 27 bombs and more than 130 people were injured, he said: ‘‘I have been active, and it’s a matter of public record, in Sinn Fein for all of my time within republican politics.’’

But he added: ‘‘I have not been a member of the IRA.’’

On Wednesday, the IRA issued an unprecedented apology for killing civilians during its 30 year terror campaign.

The statement offered ‘‘sincere apologies and condolences’’ to the families of ‘‘non-combatants’’ it had murdered in gun and bomb outrages down the decades.

It also said it acknowledged the grief and pain of the families of the combatants killed during the violence - soldiers, police officers and loyalist paramilitaries - and insisted it remained committed to the peace process.

Mr Adams said this apology had nothing to do with the current political crisis.

‘‘My understanding is that it is entirely around the 30th anniversary of Bloody Friday, which is coincidental to everything else that is happening.

‘‘And that IRA people thought there was a need, as part of acknowledging their responsibility for fatalities, for people’s deaths and for injuries, of using the Bloody Friday anniversary as an occasion where they could make what I think is a very genuine apology for all of those non-combatants who were killed or injured by the IRA over the last 30 years.

‘‘It was entirely an independent move. It was not part of any negotiations or discussions that I or Sinn Fein have been having with the British Government or the Irish Government or anyone else for that matter.

‘‘So I would like to think it will be taken at face value for what it was, and that was an expression of sorrow and regret, an apology,’’ he added.

Speaking on Radio Ulster’s Inside Politics programme, Mr Adams also warned Prime Minister Tony Blair not to impose sanctions against Sinn Fein when he addresses the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Ulster Unionists are pressing the Prime Minister to throw Sinn Fein out of government because of continuing IRA activity, including its involvement with Colombia rebels and alleged role in the break-in at the Special Branch offices in Belfast in March.

Party leader David Trimble has given Mr Blair a deadline of July 24 - the day Parliament rises for the summer recess - to respond.

Hardliners in the party are pressing him to quit as Northern Ireland First Minister and collapse the devolved power-sharing government at Stormont unless they get the right Government response.

However, Mr Adams said: ‘‘The aim of those who are pushing the Prime Minister in this direction is, as I have said before, to bring sanctions against Sinn Fein.

‘‘Whatever the state of the cessations, and Sinn Fein want to see an end to all the violence here, the political institutions should be defended and protected and safeguarded.

‘‘The Sinn Fein ministers are there, not by dint of some privilege which is doled out by a British Prime Minister or a First Minister or a unionist, they are there by virtue of the fact we got enough votes to allow our mandate to be represented on the Executive.’’

Mr Adams said the Prime Minister should point out the virtues and the progress made in the recent past, as well as any problems which still exist.

‘‘But he should point up that the place to sort all of these matters out is within the collectivity of the pro-agreement parties. That’s where it should be sorted out.

‘‘And he should stay away from any attempt to redefine cessations or to take whatever difficulties there are in the peace process into the political institutions.’’