Adams says Govts must take risk to make peace

The British and Irish governments need to take risks to win peace in Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams claimed tonight.

As unionists continued to demand sanctions against his party over ongoing IRA activity, the West Belfast MP warned his critics in Belfast, London and Dublin that Sinn Féin would not be “bullied“.

In his presidential address to Sinn Féin’s Ard Fheis in Dublin, Mr Adams told the British and Irish governments they had to push ahead with peace process commitments if they were going to prevent a political vacuum developing.

“They know that a vacuum will encourage those who want to tear down this process,” he said.

“We only have to look at the Middle East and the terrible events there to realise the danger of a stalled peace process.

“For our part republicans recognise that building peace is a collective endeavour.

“We who want to see the maximum change are called upon the greatest risks. So there can be no doubt if the two governments apply themselves to acts of completion of the Good Friday Agreement then others must do likewise.”

Republicans have been heavily criticised over the past eight days after the attempted abduction of dissident republican Bobby Tohill from a Belfast city centre bar.

Northern Ireland police chief Hugh Orde blamed the IRA for the incident, sparking demands for Sinn Féin’s expulsion from talks to restore devolution in Northern Ireland.

Following an incident, the British and Irish governments asked a four member commission set up last year to monitor paramilitary ceasefires and the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement to produce its first report earlier than planned in May.

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble has also threatened to lead a walkout by his party out of the review of the Good Friday Agreement if there isn’t stronger action.

Northern Ireland’s largest party, the rev Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists have also called on other political parties to work with them on a system of devolution which will prevent Sinn Féin from wielding power.

Mr Adams said his party was “ready to do business” with both unionist parties but he accused them of “macho posturing“.

In his leader's address, he said: “Ian Paisley and David Trimble are fighting for control of unionism, both trying to prove how tough they are.

“And while they play their power games, the peace process stalls and withers.

“Sooner or later, we and the unionists must begin a real dialogue, an anti-sectarian dialogue, designed to move us all beyond the impasse of the present into a living, hopeful future in which they, as well as we, tell the British government to butt out; that no longer will London, which is not trusted or respected by any constituency in Ireland, set the terms for us.”

With the DUP becoming “the senior unionist party“, Mr Adams said republicans were under no illusion that Mr Paisley’s party wanted minimal change.

But he also claimed the DUP knew the only way it would get a devolved administration back would be with Sinn Féin in government and with the all-Ireland structures of the Good Friday Agreement.

With his party also facing attacks in the run up to European and local government elections about its links to the IRA, Mr Adams singled out Justice Minister Michael McDowell for criticism.

He also said Bertie Ahern’s Fianna Fail “should not be part of this short-sighted anti-republican agenda“.

Despite these attacks, the West Belfast MP said: “I never take voters for granted but I have a feeling that Sinn Féin is going to advance again at a national level.”