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Home Page > News > Irish leader Enda Kenny accuses Gerry Adams of leadership role on IRA Army Council

Irish leader Enda Kenny accuses Gerry Adams of leadership role on IRA Army Council

Prime Minister claims follow Dolours Price interview

PATRICK COUNIHAN,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Sunday, September 30, 2012, 7:52 AM

Updated Sunday, September 30, 2012, 7:52 AM

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Taoiseach Enda Kenny

Photo by REUTERS

Ireland’s Prime Minister Enda Kenny has accused Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams of being a member of the IRA’s Army Council.

The Sunday Independent newspaper reports that Kenny made the claims at the Fine Gael party’s presidential dinner on Saturday night.

Kenny told his party supporters that he is now of the opinion that Adams was not only an IRA member but also a senior figure on its army council.

The Irish PM said: “From all the evidence I have read and from all the evidence I have heard, I believe Gerry Adams was a member of the IRA and I was led to believe he was also a member of the army council.

“Mr Adams’s calls for a truth commission in the North will count for nothing unless he is honest about his role during the Troubles, which claimed more than 3,000 lives.

“When Deputy Adams says to me he wants a truth and reconciliation commission, I’d like him to be absolutely truthful about this.”

The report adds that, in a controversial speech, Kenny also contrasted Adams’s continual denial of being in the IRA with the admission by Martin McGuinness about his senior role within the paramilitary organisation.

Kenny said: “I had a serious discussion with Martin McGuinness, Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, and he was forthright enough and honest enough to say he was a member of the IRA. So Gerry Adams might like to make a statement about that.”

Asked to clarify his comments by reporters, Kenny added: “I was asked a question, do I believe Gerry Adams was a member of the IRA and I said, the evidence I have read and heard led me to believe he was and was a member of the army council - and he might like to make a statement on that.”

Kenny’s comments came just a week after Old Bailey bomber Dolours Price accused Adams of IRA activities in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph newspaper in London.

Nster.com

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42 Comments

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seamus60 | Oct 05, 2012, 05:52 AM EDT

Celtboi. They`re all the same. Its called ruling by fooling.

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celtboi | Oct 04, 2012, 09:01 PM EDT

enda full of promises till you got in the door.

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seanomelb | Oct 04, 2012, 07:34 PM EDT

Leah It would take a better than you to wind me up. Gordan I'm not scoring points on anyone's Irishness If you're proud of been Irish so be it. You're the one who stated Sinn Fein would rule Ireland with a gun at your back.Don't you think your comment was silly and bitter and deserved a silly and bitter retort.

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leahkinsella | Oct 04, 2012, 06:38 PM EDT

It's very easy to wind you up Sean from Melbourne! You always behave like a bold child throwing your toys of of the pram!

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Gordan Duggan | Oct 04, 2012, 06:28 PM EDT

Sean: Where on earth did you get the idea I'm from the North? As stated before on this site, I was born in Wicklow and brought up in Dublin (Clondalkin). It seems my name is not Irish enough for you! My grandfathers fought both in the first World War and in the Irish War of Independance. (on both sides)and they both swore off war. I also lived in Australia for a number of years so I dont get your point. Are you more Irish then the rest of us.?

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seamus60 | Oct 03, 2012, 09:24 PM EDT

way to go JAJANE so you reckon he took a VOW. Why would he have done that ? without giving anything away of course. Can we rule out the truth commission that Marty and Gerry say they would like (not) on the grounds that anyone who was a Vol is sworn by oath (vow) to secrecy forever. Maybe Gerry isn`t joking when he says "they haven`t gone away ye know". Otherwise who`ll give all us old ex combatants the order that supercedes that origional oath. Not sure if thats allowed but hey Gerry and Marty just made up new and changed the old rules to suit their agenda as they went along. Its all got very confusing.........

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seanomelb | Oct 03, 2012, 08:28 PM EDT

I do not hate Australia maybe a brief visit would help you understand the democracy Australia is. You have no idea on my vision of Ireland as we have never discussed it. If Sinn Fein gain power in Ireland it will be through the ballot box that,s called democracy. My family's association with Sinn Fein spans 90 yrs and that includes members of different faiths. What have you done to halt the march of freedom Leah!! Sit on your ar@e in front of the telly spouting your uninformed vitriol. Afraid to take any action to defend your point of view.BTW Gordon from the north I will decide where I live and how often I visit Ireland,an orange reprobate like you will not make that determination for me.

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Gordan Duggan | Oct 03, 2012, 07:37 PM EDT

Sean in Melbourne, you are living in a British Commonwealth country not here in the Irish State which is obvious from your comments you hate. It's easy to comment when you don;t live here. You need to grow up man. I am determined my three year old daughter is not going to grow up in the sort of Ireland you envisage under the likes of Sinn Fein (a hell on earth). So stay in Australia, we don't want you here.

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leahkinsella | Oct 03, 2012, 07:18 PM EDT

Seano poor diddums you're hurt by Eamon Butler's comments. Been too long out of Ireland.. You won't have to face the consquences if Sinn Fein ever get into power in Ireland and the civil war that follows as you will be safe in Melbourne. JaJane, when were you in the IRA?

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JaJane | Oct 03, 2012, 04:46 PM EDT

Gerry needs to remember that he took a VOW. IRA men and women took a VOW OF SILENCE,FOREVER,PERIOD. and B.Hughes should have kept his mouth shut. How do you know what Edna Kenny has ever done? You take his word. He "claims", he assumes, he thinks, he heard, he takes the word of a woman who is undeniably not in her right mind, he uses hearsay,accusitions, where is the evidence. McGuinness should keep his mouth shut about the IRA. He took the VO too. KEEP YOUR MOUTHS SHUT~ REMEMBER THE VOW~!

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seanomelb | Oct 02, 2012, 07:43 PM EDT

Your anti Sinn Fein vitriol negates your faux "middle of the road stance,Your "guns at our backs" phrase certainly supports your siege mentality. The barstool remark is a cheap shot,but then,what an one except from a wounded poster on IC.

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EamonButler | Oct 02, 2012, 11:08 AM EDT

Actually aloismartin, James Connolly was one of the founders of the Irish Labour Party, he was born and brought in Cowgate, Glasgow and joined the British Army which is how he came to be in Ireland where he met his wife and eventually fought in the 1916 Rising. Seanomelb, I not right wing, more middle of the road, and am a Nationalist in the best sense because I love the Irish Republic and don't want to see it crippled by hate in the same way Ulster was. Get off that bar stool in Australia and get out in the sun, it will do you good.

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aloistmartin | Oct 01, 2012, 08:15 PM EDT

EamonButler@ " Republican " Ireland actually has a Socialist and a Marxist Party ! To think that even Fine Gael started out Arm and Arm with the likes of James Connolly and Vladimir Lenin :)

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seanomelb | Oct 01, 2012, 08:07 PM EDT

There are thousands hundreds of people who were known members of the IRA and are free walking the streets of the world and some are members of parliaments in the north and the Britain. E.Butler is just another nationalist hater and suffers from a typical right wing siege mentality. Short on facts and plenty of hate.

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EamonButler | Oct 01, 2012, 03:26 PM EDT

Enda Kenny did't shoot anybody. What has Adams ever done for the Irish Republic. a country he hates and only pays lip service to. I am not a fan of the present government but the thought of Sinn Fein ruling our country (most likely with guns at our backs) does not enthrall me or my family one bit. As for that individual who lives in France and plans to come home to register for the next election, you're too late, the authorities have ways of checking you know.

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