Ulster Unionist Leader, Mike Nesbitt MLA, has accused Gerry Adams of hiding behind his single transferable speech of denial to attempt to deflect responsibility away from the IRA.

 Mr Nesbitt said:

 “What we continue to hear from Gerry Adams is his single transferable speech of denial. And frankly it won`t wash anymore. He has a long history of being consistently wrong when it comes to prevaricating on whether the IRA were up to their necks in crime or not, be it murder, robbery or money laundering.

 “He has been using this single transferable speech of denial since the eighties. In his own writings in 1986 Gerry Adams tried to dismiss accusations made against the IRA by blaming the British. This is what he said:

 “In particular, the British Government exploited every opportunity to increase the sense of war-weariness; and especially when Oglaigh na hEireann killed or injured civilians the British were always, in classical counter-insurgency fashion, cynically prepared to exploit these mistakes or to create the conditions in which they might occur.”

 “In 1994, when the finger was firmly pointed at the IRA for being responsible for the murder of Newry postal worker, Frank Kerr, Gerry Adams accused others of ‘being engaged in a transparent attempt to damage the peace process’. He also said that people ‘were concerned also at the way in which the RUC has sought to blame republicans for this killing’, when the IRA were accused of Frank Kerr`s murder. Ten days later the IRA admitted murdering Frank Kerr. To this day, Gerry Adams has failed to withdraw his comments.

 “Then yesterday he claimed that Sinn Fein`s ‘enemies and opponents seek at every opportunity to attack our mandate’ and that ‘the recent killings of Jock Davison and Kevin McGuigan have been opportunistically and cynically seized upon for that purpose.’

 “This is typical of Gerry Adams – ignoring reality and trying to deflect attention from what is there for all to see. Whether it was the murders of Paul Quinn or Robert McCartney, the case of the Columbia Three ‘birdwatchers’, the Northern Bank robbery or last week`s murder, Gerry Adams claims lack any credibility. Even his own current and former supporters recognise that. It`s up to republicans to convince people that they are committed to exclusively peaceful means.”