Adams stated that direct rule from London was a non-starter but London and Dublin in a joint authority role would be acceptable.
The Irish and British governments should impose joint authority in Northern Ireland in the absence of agreement to re-enter the power sharing government by Sinn Féin and the DUP, Gerry Adams has said. He was speaking in an interview with The Irish Times.
Adams also stated that marriage equality and the status of the Irish language must be resolved for Sinn Féin to go back into government.
However, he said: “There are other issues – the need for ordinary governance to prevail in terms of decency, manners and respect.
“I understand respect is a two-way street. I understand all of us can say things that people find objectionable, but there is a difference between me misspeaking and you misspeaking and an entire system being offensive and refusing to tolerate.
“For unionism the challenge is: if you accept a rights-based society in the North, then you are acknowledging that the state has changed utterly. Some of them won’t do that. Most of them have come round to that view, but some in the leadership won’t.”
Read more: Northern Ireland still without government in Stormont as Brexit dominates
Adams stated that direct rule from London was a non-starter but London and Dublin in a joint authority role would be acceptable.
“It is not as good as having a local assembly. It is not as good as having the all-Ireland, east and west, infrastructure in place, but it means decisions will be taken on the island of Ireland as opposed to them being taken by somebody from Sussex, or somewhere else that does not know a thing about the thoughts, culture or needs of people in the North,” the Sinn Féin president added.
The Irish government agrees with Sinn Féin on the issue on how the North must be governed if power-sharing, as outlined in the Good Friday Agreement, is not restored.
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