Court hears why he never sued over IRA allegations

The High Court in Dublin has heard it alleged that Gerry Adams never sued over allegations he was in the IRA because he sat on its army council until 2005.

The claim was made by a barrister acting for the BBC.

Mr Adams’ reputation has been the subject of repeated questions, as the broadcaster defends itself in a defamation case brought by him.

The former Sinn Féin leader has consistently denied ever having been in the IRA.

In 2016, the BBC claimed Mr Adams sanctioned the murder of an informer, Denis Donaldson, an allegation Mr Adams denies and which he is suing over.

Paul Gallagher SC, acting for the BBC, asked Mr Adams why he never sued the media over claims he was in the IRA.

Mr Adams, in previous evidence, had said his legal advice had always been he would never get a fair trial.

He added that on this occasion, it is a trial by a jury of his peers and “a new experience for me”.

Mr Gallagher put it to him that he never acted before now as he had been in the IRA and on its army council until two decades ago.

Mr Adams pointed out he had taken a case against the Sunday World in relation to the murder of Kevin McGuigan in 2015 and that the paper had settled.

He said on other occasions he had lodged complaints with editors and others.

Later on, he said: “I repeat this is an attempt to persuade the good people on this jury that what reputation I had was bad, Spotlight could say what they want and I could have no redress.

“I’m acknowledging these allegations flying about.

“But that doesn’t mean my reputation is a bad reputation.”

During the opening statement made by Mr Adams’ legal team last week, it stated he had a built a reputation as a peacemaker.

Mr Adams concluded giving his evidence at lunchtime on Thursday.

He has given hours of testimony over seven days.

The case continues.

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.