Ulster Unionist Party Chief Whip, Steve Aiken OBE MLA, has stated that Gerry Adams is attempting to create a narrative of blame to cover up his own failings.

Steve Aiken OBE MLA said:

“Gerry Adams, in his latest diatribe against unionists, is yet again trying to create the narrative of blame for his failure to deliver a deal in Northern Ireland.

“As regards his comments accusing the Ulster Unionist Party of moving away from the Belfast Agreement, it demonstrates his own paranoia.

“In 2006 it was none other than Gerry Adams who persuaded Tony Blair, with DUP acquiescence, to abandon the core partnership principle at the heart of the Agreement and gerrymandered the election of First and deputy First Minister which has sectarianised our politics ever since.

“Gerry Adams is however shackled by the principle of consent which is enshrined at the heart of the Belfast Agreement and he can’t get away from that. He now wants to forge a new agreement to loosen the principle of consent and is using emotive issues such as his demand for an Irish Language Act to do so.

“As Lord Empey made very clear on a number of occasions, Gerry Adams and his colleagues never asked for an Irish Language Act during the Belfast Agreement negotiations and never bothered to include it in a Programme for Government over the course of ten years. His conversion to being an advocate for the Irish Language is nothing more than a ruse to attract votes as he looks towards the twilight of his ‘career’. 

“Gerry Adams has been the most divisive figure in British and Irish politics in the last fifty years. He is the Godfather of the republican movement, and its terrorist wing committed the most horrific human rights abuses. While he still leads it, true reconciliation will not be possible.”