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GERRY ADAMS HAS said he will definitely lead Sinn Féin into the next general election as he insisted his repeated denials that he was ever in the IRA are not an impediment to growing the party’s parliamentary numbers.
In a wide-ranging interview with TheJournal.ie this week, Adams said that he did not foresee his denials about IRA membership impeding the party’s progress at this stage or ever.
“I’ll certainly lead the party into the next election,” he said while pointing out that ultimately it was the decision of the party’s Ard Fheis as to whether or not to re-elect him as leader.
He pointed out that his success in the Louth constituency at the 2011 general election had tested the public’s perception of him and his alleged links to the IRA.
Adams has repeatedly denied he was ever in the IRA and involved in its violent campaign during the Troubles despite many claims to the contrary.
He said: “If you ask me if I’m a member of the IRA? No I’m not. Was I member of the IRA? No I wasn’t. Now people will then make up their minds on the validity and the truthfulness and the accuracy of that assertion.”
Gerry Adams on the IRA:
Adams said he would never dissociate himself from the IRA but said that he will only know if he has to apologise for incidents during the Troubles if the process of reconciliation continues.
He said: “I’m talking about the necessary job of moving into another phase of the peace process which has healing at its essence.
“[It's] an attempt to bring about reconciliation and [the only way] I will only know and others will only know what we have to do to meet those challenges [is] if that engagement continues.”
Adams said that for the likes of himself and Northern Ireland deputy first minister Martin McGuinness – the “two best known” faces in Sinn Féin – they wanted to lead the party through the next few years.
“I think we want to see the party through this transition period,” he said.
“What we’re doing is unprecedented. We have built the party in the North into the senior – by a million miles – party from the nationalist side in the six counties.
“It didn’t exist as a political formation maybe 20 years ago. We have made Sinn Féin a realistic, relevant party of opposition here [in the south of Ireland] and we are in government in the North.”
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So a no-deal Brexit would be bad for the economy but so would an orderly Brexit. And does anyone really believe that inflation is only 1 percent per annum in this country? I assume the Central Bank guy is not renting accommodation or paying crèche fees.
@Earth Traveller: yes…inflation is low. Are any of your day to day products in a basket of goods going up?
@Earth Traveller: yes…inflation is low. Are any of your day to day products in a basket of goods going up? Competition is driving retail prices down. The majority of people own their homes and interest rates are dropping…
@joe: yes they absolutely are
More tax from FFG …
Our central banks “expert” analysis seems to be to look at the current number and then add a little bit onto that!
And aren’t we all so lucky that FFG never brought us to the brink of recession!
Its always somebody else’s fault, brexit, or the financial crash, or the butterfly that flapped its wings the wrong way in brazil, its never the fault of the useless idiots in dail eireann.
We need to stand up stop thinking about how bad it will be without England financially and start thinking about Irish unity and how it will benefit us as a nation of course if won’t benefit us straight away but a few years down the line it will. Those figures the central bank send out I would take them with a grain of salt .Time to stop moaning and get on with it.
@Donal Carey: what if the vote goes the other way ,what then and it is likely to do that as the uncertainty that is around the corner
@Donal Carey: we really don’t want or need that money pit!
@FlopFlipU: Negative everything points to a United Ire and it’s about time
Once northern Ireland see how britain has betrayed them, it will a work itself out.
What will they use to scare us with when its all sorted.
Is this the same regulator that predicted a soft landing at the height of the Celtic tiger?
The banks will be a great help to struggling people. They give you an umbrella when the sun is out, then take it off you when it’s raining
Scare mungering again like 12 years ago
@Joseph Molloy:
You may have missed it, but 12 years ago the proverbial muck hit the fan in this country like never before and we’re still suffering the consequences. Where exactly do you see the scaremongering?
Brexit won’t happen. English are stupid alright but not economically suicidal. London is the powerhouse and voted remain. Money talks.
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