Adams admits to failings over abuse allegations

Gerry Adams today admitted he could have done more to stop his alleged sex abuser brother working with children.

However, the Sinn Féin leader said the police and social services also had questions to answer as to how Liam Adams was able to get a job as a youth worker, despite both agencies being aware that his daughter Aine had made claims he raped and molested her.

The republican leader conceded to making mistakes in how he dealt with his brother's situation a day after he revealed that his father, Gerry Adams Snr, had sexually abused a number of his siblings.

Liam Adams, who is currently on the run from police on suspicion of abusing his daughter in the 1970s and 80s, worked in the Clonard Youth Centre in Belfast from 1998 to 2003.

During this period he also worked in the Muirhevnamor Community Youth Project in Dundalk, Co Louth. He was then involved with another youth project in west Belfast from 2004 to 2006.

All three organisations said they were not aware of the claims against Mr Adams.

He obtained the positions before vetting checks for people working with children in the North became compulsory (the law changed in 2005) and its understood he was not subjected to any such procedure.

Gerry Adams, who first became aware of the allegations against his brother in 1987, said he was not aware he had got a job in the Clonard Youth Centre until he started working there.

When he found out, he said he informed the project's organisers of his concerns.

But the management of the centre today said they had no record on their files of anybody raising concerns about Liam Adams while he worked there.

While maintaining he contacted the centre, the Sinn Féin president said he could have taken other steps to ensure his brother did not have access to children.

"I'm not above reproach on this and obviously I would handle different issues differently because you learn more and more about how to deal with these issues," he said.

The west Belfast MP said there was only so much an individual could do in such circumstances and asked why the police and social services had not taken action to prevent his brother working with children.

Aine Tyrell (her married name) reported her father to the police in 1987 but subsequently withdrew the complaint. Social services were also informed at this point. She finally decided to press charges against him in 2005.

"I don't for a second absolve myself from any mistakes that I might have made in terms of how I have handled this," Mr Adams told BBC Radio Ulster.

"But the responsibility lies in the first place with Liam - that's the first issue that we have to be very clear about - and the second responsibility lies with those who are charged with dealing with those issues when they are brought to their attention."

He added: "The only questions being asked of anybody in this whole affair is me - there are no questions being asked of the social services - no questions being asked about the police."

The Belfast Health and Social Care Trust said it had no comment to make on Mr Adams's claims while the police said it did not discuss vetting procedures.

The revelations about Liam Adams's alleged crimes emerged on Friday when Aine Tyrell, now 36, waived her right to anonymity and went public with her claims in a documentary on Ulster Television.

In a follow-up TV interview for RTÉ on Sunday, Gerry Adams revealed that his father Gerry Snr "emotionally, physically and sexually abused" family members over many years.

Today he said the revelations about his father had come to light at the same time as he was trying to deal with his brother's alleged crimes.

"I'm quite conscious that I didn't handle this perfectly and in the middle of all this I discovered that my father was an abuser and that was another huge shock for me and for other members of the family, and of course we set ourselves about trying to resolve that."

The Sinn Féin leader has also rejected claims his brother had sought election for his party in Co Louth in the 1990s.

The MP said he ensured that his brother was subsequently "dumped" out of Sinn Féin.

In regard to his father, who died six years ago, Mr Adams said his family had made sure he was never left alone with children when they became aware of his history of abuse.

The Stormont Assembly member said he had no recollection of being personally abused.

"He ended up dying a very lonely man where he should have been surrounded by loving family members," he told RTÉ.

Mr Adams explained why he waited so long to make the troubling revelations.

"I myself for a long time wanted this to be publicised because there is a culture of concealment. But we can only do this when everybody is strong enough to do it.

"And we don't do it for any other reason than as a necessary step in the healing process in our own clan. And also for other families who are in the same predicament, or individuals who just feel this is the end of the world."

He was asked about his father's republican funeral and tricolour on his coffin.

"Personally that was one of the great dilemmas for me because I'm a republican. I'm speaking here as a human being, as a family member," he said.

"I didn't want him buried with the tricolour. I think he besmirched it, but it was a dilemma for other members of my family who felt that they didn't want this at that time out in the open."

Had he not been buried as a former republican activist in the 1930s, a former prisoner, that would have drawn attention to the fact that there was something wrong.

"So you have to look after the living as opposed to the dead," he said.

"I always also had a view that was going to come out at some time."

Mr Adams also reiterated his call for his brother to give himself up.

"Aine needs justice. This has gone on for far too long. And the only way now she can get justice is through the courts," he said.

"And Liam, for her sake especially, for his sake and for the sake of his other children, should do that. He should come forward."