Gerry Adams in the Press

Gerry Adams in the Press

Regardless of what side you take on the problems in Ireland, Gerry Adams has played a definitive role throughout the past 30+ years. There have been many books about Mr. Adams that offer differing views of his involvement in Sinn Fein, the IRA, and the peace process. The press in Ireland and Britain have an almost instant window into events as they occur that should offer up a unique perspective not seen in book format. The Internet was used for my research, the following sites provided a wealth of information; www.village.ie, www.slate.com, www.telegraph.co.uk,

www.thescottsman.com, irishnews.com, rte.ie, unison.ie, www.cnn.com, www.Ireland.com, news.bbc.co.uk, Cambridge-news.co.uk, and, sinnfein.ie.

As this is written, what was once unthinkable is happening in Ireland, the Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) are sharing power in the government. Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley have met face to face and have agreed to work together. Sword enemies are cooperating, the IRA has laid down their arms, while many things need to be worked out it looks like a new, peaceful chapter in Ireland's history has begun. Gerry Adams' life work has been to get Ireland to this point; he has been active in the peace process since the 1970's.

In October 2001 Boris Johnson wrote in the Telegraph; "I WONDER who was most overjoyed by the news that the IRA is finally to hand over its weapons? It might be the poor people of Ulster. They certainly have reason to feel more hopeful; but then they know that there will always be weapons at the disposal of terrorists. Perhaps there will be jubilation among the politicians, from John Major to David Trimble to Tony Blair, who have worked so hard to this end. But then they are cautious enough not to rejoice too soon."

"It may be that the IRA will, in the next few years, go the way of the Mau Mau, the Stern Gang and the Red Brigades as an ex-terrorist organization. It is just that we have seen far too many false dawns to be sure. There was only one man who seemed to be experiencing overwhelming sensations of joy; and that was Gerry Adams, whose lupine grin appeared across the front of one of yesterday's newspapers. "Let us not fritter it away," he said. Fritter what away? It sounds as though he has come into some unexpected money; and so, as we discover if we read on, he has."

"The IRA's decision to decommission, with which we must assume Mr. Adams is associated, will allow a certain author (Gerry Adams) to claim an advance worth £400,000. Headline had offered the Sinn Fein leader part of this amazing sum in return for the privilege of publishing his autobiography, Hope and History, in this country."

Boris Johnson paints Gerry Adams as a thug, and infers his association to the IRA. Boris also points out a potential conflict of interest, the decommissioning IRA's weapons a prerequisite to receiving an advance for a book deal.

In the same article Boris Johnson goes on to say; "Let us examine the moral distinction, if any, between the pre-ceasefire, pre-decommissioning Gerry Adams and Osama bin Laden. Both of them believe in the blowing up of innocent people to make political points. Both have strong connections with organizations whose activities include the training of terrorists across the globe. Both have represented men who are prepared to commit suicide for their cause, such is their fanaticism. Both are actuated by a kind of chippiness, boiling into hatred, against an imperial power which, so they think, should leave their countries and take its soldiers with it."

"The difference, or so Headline and Wylie may tell us, is that Adams has all but renounced his barbarism (though not quite). He is, relatively speaking, a tabby cat, a domesticated animal. He has been brought into the house, petted and made much of, while bin Laden is still feral in his urges: inscrutable, unpredictable, unmanageable." Johnson's contempt of Gerry Adams is apparent; he pulls no punches in his attempt to equate Adams with the worse terrorist of our time."

Boris Johnson is a MP for Henley-on-Thames and a writer for the Telegraph. He is a member of the Conservative party in Ireland.

A profile news.bbc.co.uk published on April 20, 2001 presents an overall positive image of Gerry Adams acknowledging his importance to the peace process;

"He has been the key strategist in moving republicans from Armalite to ballot box, telling them as early as 1979 that victory could not be achieved solely by military means.

If the British now realized they could not have a military victory, he argued, so should republicans." Gerry is portrayed as a shrewd pragmatic leader that understands what needs to be done to achieve his goals.

News.bbc.co.uk published on June 14, 2005 speaks almost in awe of his ability

to guide the Republicans from a violence based group to a political group wielding

considerable power. His leadership skills are praised; given the personal and political risks he has taken, Adams's leadership skills in navigating these sea changes in policy cannot be underestimated. Historically, disagreements between republicans led to violent feuding, but during the peace process major splits have largely been avoided. Gerry Adams is always careful to use close supporters to test controversial ground in advance, ruthless in isolating and marginalizing his opponents and far-sighted in never allowing the swirl of events to knock the strategic direction of his "project" off course. He is probably better equipped to ride out the current storms than anyone else in his party. If nothing else he can always wear down opponents with what one commentator calls his "weary patience" repeating over and over the mantra that the "Peace Process is the only game in town".

Some of the editorialists have a seemingly equal dislike for Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley as Jenny McCartney wrote in the Telegraph on January 4th, 2007; "When Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland Secretary,

...