Adams: I did not know brother worked for party

Under pressure Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams today insisted he did not know his suspected child abuser brother worked for his party in the heart of his own constituency.

The republican leader has faced calls to explain how Liam Adams chaired a local branch of Sinn Féin in west Belfast in 2000 – three years after he claimed he had him expelled from party ranks.

“I don’t know every member of the party in west Belfast,” he said.

“I am also a very busy activist – a lot of this happened at a time of intense hyper-activity – but I didn’t know.”

Liam Adams is currently on the run from the police on charges he sexually abused his daughter Aine Tyrell in the 1970s and 80s.

His high profile elder brother has been confronted with repeated questions about his handling of the allegations, which he became aware of in 1987, since Ms Tyrell went public last month.

In particular, he has been forced to defend claims he did not do enough to alert the authorities when he found out his estranged brother was working in youth groups in west Belfast and the Republic over the last 15 years.

The senior republican also said he had him thrown out of Sinn Féin in 1997 when he became aware he was a member of the party in Co Louth.

But the controversy took another twist yesterday when Sinn Féin revealed that three years later Mr Adams became re-involved with the party in Andersonstown - which is Gerry Adams’s west Belfast constituency.

While he did not re-apply to be a member, he did chair a branch in Andersonstown for a period, party chairman Declan Kearney explained.

The revelation has thrust the focus back on Mr Adams, with queries as to how he could not have known about his brother’s involvement.

Currently engaged in high level political talks at Stormont aimed at achieving the devolution of policing powers to Stormont, Mr Adams re-stated his position during a break from negotiations.

“I got my brother Liam to leave Sinn Féin in Co Louth,” he said.

“He later unbeknown to me rejoined the party in west Belfast. Had I known that that was the case, and I didn’t know that until Thursday, when Declan (Kearney) gave us his report, I would have moved to get him to leave the party there also. It is my strong view that he should not have been in Sinn Féin.”

He added: “My clear view is that my brother Liam should not have been a member of the party – when I heard on one instance he was I got him to leave and had I heard on another instance I would have got him to leave as well.”

In December Gerry Adams also revealed his late father Gerry Snr subjected family members to emotional, physical and sexual abuse over many years.

He said he discovered the allegations levelled against his brother in 1987 and had brought Liam’s daughter Aine, then aged 14, to confront her father.

He said statutory bodies including the police were told of the claims at that point.

Three years ago, after his niece went to police, Gerry Adams said he made a statement to the PSNI in support of her and against his brother.

Liam Adams gave himself up to gardaí in Co Sligo before Christmas. They could not detain him as they did not have the correct warrant.

Ian Paisley Jr has asked a Stormont Assembly committee to investigate if Gerry Adams breached its rules by failing to act about his brother’s alleged sex abuse.

The DUP Assembly member submitted questions to Assembly Ombudsman Tom Frawley. Mr Frawley will assess if the complaint merits being passed to the Assembly’s Committee on Standards and Privileges.

Mr Adams said his political opponents were using the issue in an attempt to undermine him.

He said he also felt constrained from fully defending himself by a need to protect the privacy of family members and by a desire not to prejudice any future court proceedings against his brother.