Witness calls former Sinn Féin leader ‘warmonger’

Former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has been described as a “warmonger” at a court in Dublin.

Ann Travers, whose sister Mary was murdered by the IRA in 1984, made the claim when she was giving evidence in a libel case brought by Mr Adams against the BBC.

Mr Adams claims he was defamed in a 2016 Spotlight programme and BBC News online report which contained an interview in which it was alleged he sanctioned the murder of Denis Donaldson.

He denies any involvement and is seeking damages, alleging his reputation was damaged.

The case is being heard at Dublin High Court.

During her evidence, Ann Travers said she believes Mr Adams was a “warmonger in the Troubles” and she believes he was supporting the IRA and “the murder of innocents”.

She also said it was her perspective growing up in Belfast he was “heavily involved with the IRA and supported their actions”.

She said he had a reputation of being a “very senior member of the IRA”.

Mr Adams has always denied being a member of the IRA.

Asked by a barrister for Mr Adams if as a result of his role in the peace process his reputation is that of a “peacemaker”, Ann Travers said “I think he was part of it”.

Also on Wednesday, former Tánaiste (Irish deputy prime minister) Michael McDowell claimed Mr Adams had been “a leading member” of the IRA, based on intelligence briefings provided to the Irish government.

Called as a witness for the BBC, he told the court: “I have never met any politician who did not believe he was a leading member of the IRA during its armed struggle and thereafter he was a dominant figure within the army council when the Good Friday Agreement and the ceasefire came into operation.”

Mr McDowell also served as attorney general and justice minister, before becoming tánaiste in 2006.

He is currently an independent senator.

Paul Gallagher SC, counsel for the BBC, asked Mr McDowell what was the view of Mr Adams within government when he served as a minister.

“During that period, the view of government, based on intelligence briefings, was that Mr Adams was a member of the army council and was a leading member of the army council with Martin McGuinness and, at one stage, Martin Ferris.”

He described the army council as the “organ” which was in “ultimate charge” of the IRA’s affairs.

A lawyer for Mr Adams stated that Mr McDowell had a “hatred” of Sinn Féin which was displayed in some articles he had written.

Mr McDowell said “hatred is one way of putting it”, adding: “I abominate what they have done in the past and I also abominate their dishonesty about what they did do and their willingness to lie right up to today.”

Under cross-examination, he was asked if he agreed Mr Adams had played a “central role” in securing the Good Friday Agreement.

Mr McDowell replied: “I agree with that proposition.

“The decision made by Sinn Féin and the provisional movement was to recognise the futility of trying to drive the British establishment out of Northern Ireland by force and to substitute for it a political process.

“In that context, the IRA made a strategic decision to move gently from one to the other.

“He [Mr Adams] represented himself entirely falsely in my view as a go-between between the IRA and the political process, whereas in fact he was the dominant character in the IRA at that time.”

Mr McDowell added there were “at least” five parties to the Good Friday Agreement and “sole credit cannot be taken by Mr Adams”.

Former Irish rugby international Trevor Ringland also gave evidence on behalf of the BBC.

He described Mr Adams as a “a peace taker, not a peace maker”.

He added: “I think the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland would agree.”

A barrister for Mr Adams pointed out that Mr Ringland is a former member of the Ulster Unionist Party and the Conservative party.

The case will continue to Thursday.

Mr Donaldson was once a key figure in Sinn Féin’s rise as a political force in Northern Ireland but he was found murdered in 2006 after it emerged he had been a spy.

He was interned without trial for periods in the 1970s.

After the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, Sinn Féin appointed Mr Donaldson as its key administrator in the party’s Stormont offices.

In 2005, Mr Donaldson confessed he was a spy for British intelligence for two decades, before disappearing from Belfast.

He was found dead in a small, run down cottage in Glenties, County Donegal.

Mr Adams was the president of republican party Sinn Féin from 1983 until 2018.

He served as MP in his native Belfast West from 1983 to 1992 and again from 1997 until 2011 before sitting as a TD (Teachta Dála) in the Dáil (Irish parliament) between 2011 and 2020.

Mr Adams led the Sinn Féin delegation during peace talks that eventually brought an end to the Troubles after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

He was detained in the early 1970s when the government in Northern Ireland introduced internment without trial for those suspected of paramilitary involvement.

Mr Adams has consistently denied being a member of the IRA.