Adams release - Calming a volatile situation

Regardless of the outcome of the controversy surrounding the arrest, detention, and last night’s release of Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams after four nights behind bars, it is absolutely vital that this row should not be allowed derail the North’s fragile peace process.

For the first time since the Good Friday Agreement was signed 16 years ago, there has been a distinct whiff of blackmail in the air following veiled warnings from Sinn Féin sources that their support for policing would be “reviewed” if Mr Adams was charged.

If the implied threat to withdraw co-operation were carried out, especially by a key architect of the accord which, for 16 years, has been a cornerstone of increasing stability, there is no doubt that the peace process would be placed in jeopardy. With so much at stake, it is hardly surprising that Peter Robinson, DUP leader and Northern Ireland First Minister, accused Sinn Féin of adopting “bullyboy tactics” over the PSNI detention of Gerry Adams.