The Ulster Unionist Party’s Justice Spokesperson, Doug Beattie MC MLA, has said the Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams has a huge credibility problem when it comes to the truth.
Speaking following weekend comments by Gerry Adams in relation to a truth commission, Mr Beattie said:
“Gerry Adams’ weekend comments that he would be willing to speak about his past ‘if there’s a satisfactory arrangement in place’ and that he would also encourage other republicans to come forward, are proof that he has information that would be of use to the authorities in investigating serious crimes committed during the Troubles.
“They also highlight the huge credibility problem which faces Sinn Fein and the wider ‘republican movement’ who seem to idol worship their leader regardless of his past.
“What he is really saying is ‘I will come forward and I will tell the truth if there’s an amnesty there so I can’t be prosecuted for what I’m going to say’. If an amnesty is not in place, then he’s going to say nothing. The offer to speak under amnesty’ is something of an inadvertent admission that he is holding information back.
“When asked by Sky News Ireland correspondent David Blevins whether he might talk about his past and his alleged long involvement in the IRA under a truth commission, Mr Adams said: ‘Yes.’
“Is Gerry Adams saying he’s going to tell the truth about his involvement in the IRA, in which case he is admitting that there is something to tell? Secondly, is he saying he will break the code of ‘omerta’, that he will talk about what other people were doing whilst in the IRA?
“I think what he is doing is posturing, trying to present himself as the reasonable man – painting a picture to everybody out there that he is reasonable but the British government and unionists are not. I’m not falling for that and I don’t think anyone else is falling for that nonsense. I do not trust Gerry Adams one bit. I would not trust a word that comes out of his mouth. I doubt he even knows what the truth is.
“This is a man who has steadfastly maintained the fiction that he was never in the IRA to the point of ridicule. When it comes to the truth, republicans have a major credibility gap in the form of their leader. Consider the following ‘alternative facts’:
Gerry Adams was never in the IRA
Martin McGuinness was, but left in the early 1970s.
The Saville Report was wrong when it said Martin McGuinness was “probably armed with a Thompson sub-machine gun” but right when it criticised the actions of British soldiers
Initially the IRA denied responsibility for the murder of Garda Jerry McCabe in Adare
The IRA denied responsibility for the Kingsmills Massacre
The IRA denied responsibility for the Northern Bank robbery
The IRA denied responsibility for the Disappeared
The IRA denied responsibility for the Colombia Three
The IRA denied responsibility for the Florida gunrunning
The IRA denied responsibility for the murder of Frank Kerr in Newry in 1994
Martin McGuinness told Saville that his oath to the IRA meant he could not tell the truth about IRA activities
“Given their past record, republicans are in no position to make demands when it comes to the truth.”