Adams has 'no concerns' over review

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has claimed he is not concerned that his former lawyer ordered a review of allegations that he withheld information on his sex abuser brother.

The North's Director of Public Prosecutions Barra McGrory QC called for the probe to be launched amid mounting criticism over what the republican leader told police about Liam Adams, and when.

The paedophile will be sentenced on November 5 in Belfast for six years of rape attacks on his daughter Aine in the 1970s.

Gerry Adams confirmed today that the current DPP was his solicitor in the past and accompanied him to one interview he gave to police in relation to his brother.

Mr Adams reiterated that he had done nothing wrong.

“I know I committed no offence and I know I did what I considered to be the right thing, and I co-operated fully with the PSNI, with the PPS, with the courts,” he said.

“I gave evidence in the courts. So I don’t have any concerns about that.

“Obviously, I’m concerned that as members of my family pick up the papers this morning and on the back of this press conference will pick up the newspaper tomorrow morning and wonder why there is such an inordinate attention on this and on me.

“So that’s my primary concern. My primary concern isn’t about me.”

Mr McGrory yesterday revealed that he had asked Northern Ireland’s Attorney General John Larkin to examine the case in light of the intense public interest.

The review is expected to last two weeks.

Asked if he was concerned about the Attorney General's inquiry, Mr Adams said that he ``generally goes with the flow''.

The Sinn Féin chief claimed that he is the victim of a political agenda on both sides of the Irish border and questioned whether Matt Baggot, Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, and Mr McGrory QC had been lobbied for an inquiry.

Mr Adams singled out Democratic Unionists and Fianna Fáil.

“I do take exception to the quite despicable lobbying that’s going on,” he said.

“I learned that the DUP, at least some of the DUP, and indeed some in Fianna Fáil, are coming at this in a political way.

“So I totally and absolutely reject that. But I try to be measured in how I deal with all of this, to be sensible and reasonable.”

Mr Adams said the DPP ordered the inquiry because of the public interest.

“So if we find that the DUP are lobbying the chief constable, could the DUP be lobbying the Director of Public Prosecutions as well? I don’t know the answer to that question. But it’s a matter for the Attorney General and we’ll let him get on with it,” he said.

Mr Adams first heard in 1987 that his brother had abused his niece.

He was a witness in the first trial, which collapsed earlier this year. He told Belfast Crown Court he first confronted his brother when they met in Buncrana, Co Donegal, in 1987 and that Liam Adams had denied the abuse.

He then revealed that his brother later confessed while they were out walking together in the rain in Dundalk, Co Louth, in 2000.

It is understood he spoke to police about his niece’s allegations in 2007 and again in 2009.

Aine initially reported the abuse to police in 1987 but did not pursue a prosecution as she believed detectives were more concerned in gathering information on Gerry Adams and other members of their family.

Gerry Adams has also been under pressure after it emerged that his brother Liam worked with young people in west Belfast and in Co Louth even though allegations of abuse had been made against him.

He said that he has had to deal with other cases of alleged sex abuse in Louth and in his native west Belfast.

“If a minor had been involved, I have told them that I have to report it to the PSNI or An Garda Siochana, and that they should do the same,” he said.

“Even when the old RUC was there, we had a policy that we would report it to the social services in the knowledge that it would go to the RUC. So there is no issue there.”

Mr Adams added: “With historical or legacy cases of abuse, when adults come to you, my best advice to them is to get counselling, to take advice from the professionals, to mind themselves. And if they want to go to the police on these matters I would support them in that.

“I’m making a distinction between minors and adults.

“Minors are different from adults in that adults are capable of making their own decisions on how to deal with the issue. Minors deserve our protection and support.”