Politicians respond to former Sinn Féin leader’s libel victory

Politicians have been reacting to Gerry Adams’ libel victory over the BBC.

The former Sinn Féin leader has won €100,000 (£84,000) in damages over a BBC story about the murder of a British agent.

A court found Mr Adams was defamed in a BBC NI Spotlight programme broadcast in 2016 and an accompanying online article, in which an anonymous contributor alleged he sanctioned the 2006 murder of Denis Donaldson.

Mr Adams, 76, denies any involvement.

He said taking the case “was about putting manners on the British Broadcasting Corporation”.

The trial at the High Court in Dublin heard four weeks of evidence from 10 witnesses, including Mr Adams and BBC NI reporter Jennifer O’Leary.

Adam Smyth, director of BBC NI, said its legal team had warned the jury’s decision in the high-profile case could “hinder freedom of expression”.

Sinn Féin TD (member of the Irish parliament) Matt Carthy described Mr Adams as “a legend”.

“For years some journalists and the political establishment have felt that they could lie about Irish Republicans and rewrite the history of conflict in Ireland,” he said.

“Once again, today, they got their answer.”

Democratic Unionist Party leader Gavin Robinson said his thoughts were “with the innocent victims who suffered at the hands of the IRA”.

“While journalists must always be able to scrutinise and investigate in the public interest, the BBC have significant questions to answer,” the Belfast East MP said.

“How have they found themselves in a situation where allegations were insufficiently evidenced with the consequence that license payers money will be now be spent on both damages and reputed legal costs running into many millions?”

Matthew O’Toole from the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) said Mr Adams was “entitled to petition a court”, adding that “the BBC will have questions to consider”.

“But today I’m thinking of the thousands of victims of the IRA, loyalists and the state who will never get a single day in court, let alone justice,” he said.

Mr O’Toole is the SDLP’s leader of the Opposition at Stormont.

Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister said: “Regardless of the verdict delivered by a Dublin jury, the people of Northern Ireland know that Gerry Adams stood front and centre in justifying and defending 30 years of brutal IRA terror.”

Denis Donaldson was once a key figure in Sinn Féin’s rise as a political force in Northern Ireland.

He was found murdered in 2006 after it emerged he had worked for the police and MI5 inside Sinn Féin for 20 years.

In 2009, the Real IRA said it had murdered him.

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

He served as MP in his native west Belfast 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.