Election reform pledges - Establish a ministry for reform

GERRY ADAMS’ platform is the past.

His role, and Sinn Féin’s, in the conflict that almost consumed this country will, fairly or unfairly, overshadow everything they attempt for some time to come.

For those old enough to remember — and very many voters are not — the bloody depths of the North’s last round of conflict, Mr Adams’ every utterance is heard through a filter that instinctively recoils from violence and the brand of nationalism that makes everyone who does not support it uneasy.