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Gerry Adams glad that the Troubles in Northern Ireland are over

DONAL THORNTON,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Tuesday, April 6, 2010, 7:34 AM

Updated Tuesday, April 6, 2010, 7:48 AM

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Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has defended the IRA's campaign during the troubles and said that he was glad the war is over.

Adams made the comments while speaking at an Easter rising commemoration at Milltown Cemetery in West Belfast.

Although Adams is proud of his involvement with the IRA, he feels the conflict "should never be glamorized or repeated."

"I am also very conscious of the human cost of the war and the great hurt inflicted by republicans."

Attending the ceremony were many of those who were senior members of the Provisional IRA.

Due to death threats from dissident republicans, there was a marked increase of security around Adams.

Adams responded indirectly to allegations made by former IRA commander Brendan Hughes in the book, "Voices from the grave".

Hughes revealed in the book that Adams was a former commander of the IRA in the 1970s.

Hughes also accused the Sinn Fein leader of being responsible for the murder and disappearance of Jean McConville, a Catholic and a mother of ten children who was murdered by the IRA and secretly buried in an unmarked grave in County Louth.

"During this phase of the struggle some of us had to leave our families and homes, go on the run, adapt many ruses, go under false names.

“We relied totally on the support of the people to protect us," said Adams.

“And we, in turn, protected the people as best we could. We did not divulge their names, their roles, their actions.

“That is still my position. And let no one think that I will bend to the demands of anti-republican elements or their allies in a hostile section of the media on this issue.”

Adams called for "an effective, independent and international truth recovery process" for the North.

"There are victims and citizens who want to know the truth about what happened to loved ones during the conflict.

"That is their right. I cannot demand truth for victims of British terrorism, collusion or unionist terror without supporting the same right for victims of republican actions."

Deputy First Minster Martin McGuinness spoke at the Easter Rising commemoration in Carrickmore, County Tyrone and said that Sinn Fein supporters should be aware of "revisionists in the media and elsewhere" that "retrospectively criminalize the IRA and the communities from which it came."

McGuinness added: "Longtime opponents of Irish republicanism are seeking to damage the struggle and sully the memory of our patriot dead through a vile onslaught of negative propaganda.

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plasticpaddy | Apr 10, 2010, 04:57 PM EDT

Yes he has denied membership of the IRA

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seanomelbourne | Apr 07, 2010, 03:42 PM EDT

I don't think Adams has denied membership of the IRA and if he has it beggars belief. IT is possible he knew of McConville's execution,as Adams states correctly There were executions on both sides. Let's not forget it's an election year demonizing opponents is the order of the day.

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feliciamaisey | Apr 07, 2010, 12:23 PM EDT

I suppose one's feelings about the IRA, Gerry Adams and the Peace Process over all play a huge part in how one disseminates Gerry's meaning. I believe the IRA did what it felt it had to do in great times of horrific fear and criminality on all sides. There are no innocents--not the British, Unionists, IRA, etc. It was a tragedy born from hundreds of years of oppression that should never have happened, and now it is time for the long re-education and healing process. Mr. Adams is correct--everyone deserves to know what happened to their loved ones during the many years of the Troubles. Unfortunately I fear that there will never be clarity, because the vows that people took prohibit them from turning their backs on their belief systems and their actions. They and the survivors have to live with that, just as it is in any post war state. Let's just hope that Northern Ireland can one day be what it once was, a very rich and cultural part of Ireland minus the need or required "Northern" in front of it.

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Rebelforce | Apr 06, 2010, 04:47 PM EDT

At the end of the day, we know that if it were not for the IRA and its highly effective guerilla campaign, Northern Ireland would still be ruled as a "Protestant state for a protestant people" by unyielding unionist bigots at Stormont. Thanks to courageous, self-sacrificing men (and women) like Gerry Adams, the political landscape on the ground in northern Ireland has been utterly transformed to embrace equality and mutual respect.

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Watchman | Apr 06, 2010, 01:52 PM EDT

So Gerry Adams wants "an effective, independent and international truth recovery process" I wonder what such a body would find in relation to Gerry. Would his claim that he was never, ever, EVER (ever) a member of the IRA be vindicated, or would the ruling be that he led the Belfast Brigade during its bloodiest years in the 1970s and remained a leading member of the Army Council, directing strategy and ordering "hits," until the mid-1990s? I give Adams great credit for his pro-active role in sustaining the peace process and persuading the IRA to endorse purely political means. I would also understand how he, from his background, became swept up in the IRA and played his part in the armed struggle. But, in the end, I cannot respect a man who lies to himself and others and insists against all the evidence that there is no blood on his hands. Shakespeare got it right: "To thine own self be true. And it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."

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