Liam Adams controversy continues

Gerry Adams was under fresh pressure this week after a Sunday newspaper claimed his suspected paedophile brother was Sinn Féin’s most senior official in County Louth.

Sinn Féin has denied claims it orchestrated a “cover up” about the exact role Adams’ alleged sex abuser brother Liam had in the party after a Sunday Tribune report outlined details of his involvement during a period the two were alleged to have been estranged.

The denial comes after the newspaper claimed Liam Adams chaired an IRA commemoration in County Louth in November 1997 -- over a year after the Sinn Féin president said he made moves to immediately have him “dumped” from the party.

The Edentubber Martyrs’ commemoration was attended by over 1,000 republicans and involved Liam Adams introducing the main speaker, Sinn Féin national chairman Mitchel McLaughlin.

The report also claimed Liam Adams was chairman of the Louth comhairle ceantair (district executive), a senior job which would have involved him liaising directly with the Sinn Féin leadership.

And the article said that Liam Adams welcomed Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness to Dundalk and stood beside him at the official opening of the party’s new office in the town in June 1996.

Gerry Adams has come under pressure in recent weeks after it emerged that he first knew about sex abuse allegations against his brother in the late 1980s.

The PSNI want to question Liam Adams following allegations that he sexually abused his daughter Aine (now Aine Tyrell) over an eight year period from 1977, when she was four years old. She has waived her right to anonymity. Liam Adams denies the claims.

Last month, Mr Adams said that, in 1997, when he learned that his brother Liam was seeking the nomination for Louth, he moved to have him expelled from the party.

The Sinn Féin leader has previously said that although they were estranged, they did meet on several occasions.

A Sinn Féin spokesman said that there was no cover-up and said it had already said he was a member of the party for a period in the 1990s.

“Sinn Féin made clear that Liam Adams was a member of the party for a brief period in the 1990s so that dispels the myth of some sort of cover up,” he said.

“Second of all it was Gerry Adams who said that when he discovered Liam was a member of the party he moved to have him removed from the party.”

The spokesman also claimed the stories were emanating from dissident republicans.

On December 21 Liam Adams handed himself in at a County Sligo police station, but released when it emerged there was no PSNI warrant for his arrest.

Sunday Tribune journalist Suzanne Breen has accused Sinn Féin of diverting attention from the affair by claiming the stories are emanating from dissidents.

“Republican dissidents last year brought murder and mayhem to Northern Ireland and undoubtedly will try to do the same this year,” she wrote.

“They are responsible for many things. What they can’t be blamed for is the alleged rape of Aine Tyrell, for recruiting Liam Adams to Sinn Féin, for promoting him through the ranks, for securing him key jobs working with young people, and for engaging in an extensive cover-up about his political activities.

“Local Dundalk newspapers openly detail Liam Adams’s Sinn Féin’s activities. But blaming the dissidents is part of the Adams leadership’s strategy in dealing with its own mess.

“It’s aimed at turning the media off the story. So far, disgracefully, it seems to be working.”

Urgent Appeal