Adams: Fish-shop bomber's rearrest is stupid

The re-arrest of IRA fish shop bomber Sean Kelly is one of the most stupid things Northern Secretary Peter Hain has done since taking over at Stormont, Gerry Adams claimed today.

As Mr Hain prepared to brief key opinion formers in the United States on the state of the peace process, the Sinn Féin leader also insisted Mr Hain was not in any position to impose a testing period for republicans in the event of a groundbreaking IRA statement in the coming weeks.

“Peter Hain has only been here for a very short time and he has failed the test,” the West Belfast MP said.

“His stupid decision over Sean Kelly is evidence of that and I don’t think he is in any position to be putting tests on people here who have a mandate.

“The people who voted for Sinn Féin certainly have no tests to pass.

“Peter Hain’s decision to incarcerate Sean Kelly was one of the stupidest decisions that has been taken in some long time here.”

Ten days ago, the British government ordered the re-arrest of Mr Kelly for involvement in paramilitary activities.

The Northern Secretary did not clarify what exactly Mr Kelly had done.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern raised concerns about the lack of information following the re-arrest of Mr Kelly, who originally qualified for early release under the Good Friday Agreement.

The decision whether Mr Kelly should remain behind bars will rest with the Sentence Review Commission in Northern Ireland.

As politicians in Dublin, Belfast and London waited for the IRA’s response to Mr Adams’ call in April for the organisation to consider abandoning armed struggle to pursue their goals peacefully and democratically, Mr Hain last week appealed for any positive move by the Provisionals to be treated in the spirit that it was intended.

With Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists insisting that it will be IRA actions, and not words, that count, Mr Hain also acknowledged in a speech to trade unionists in Belfast that a testing period might be needed to convince others in the process that the republican moves were for real.