Gerry Adams

Adams was born in the Ballymurphy district of Belfast on 6 October 1948.{{Cite news |date=20 November 2017 |title=Gerry Adams: Profile of Sinn Féin leader |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27238602 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200310023721/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27238602 |archive-date=10 March 2020 |access-date=14 June 2020 |work=BBC News |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Gerry Adams |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gerry-Adams |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107032811/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gerry-Adams |archive-date=7 November 2017 |access-date=11 July 2019 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}} His parents, Anne (née Hannaway) and Gerry Adams Sr., came from republican backgrounds. His grandfather, also named Gerry Adams, was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) during the Irish War of Independence. Two of his uncles, Dominic and Patrick Adams, had been interned by the governments in Belfast and Dublin.{{Cite news |date=20 November 2017 |title=Profile: Gerry Adams |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27238602 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121215123/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27238602 |archive-date=21 January 2018 |access-date=19 January 2018 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}} In J. Bowyer Bell's book The Secret Army,J. Bowyer Bell, The Secret Army: The IRA 1916 (Irish Academy Press). Bell states that Dominic was a senior figure in the Irish Republican Army (IRA) of the mid-1940s. Gerry Adams Sr. joined the IRA at age 16. In 1972, he participated in an IRA ambush on a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) patrol but was shot, arrested and sentenced to eight years' imprisonment. Adams's maternal great-grandfather, Michael Hannaway, was also a member of the IRB during its bombing campaign in England in the 1860s and 1870s.{{sfn|Moloney|2002|p=38}} Michael's son, Billy, was election agent for Éamon de Valera at the 1918 Irish general election in West Belfast.

Adams attended St Finian's Primary School on Falls Road, where he was taught by La Salle brothers. Having passed the eleven-plus exam in 1960, he attended St Mary's Christian Brothers Grammar School. He left St Mary's with six O-levels and worked in bars.

File:Gerry Adams Easter Lily Badge.jpg (2008)]]

In the late 1960s, a civil rights campaign developed in Northern Ireland. After being radicalised by the Divis Street riots during the 1964 United Kingdom general election campaign, Adams joined Sinn Féin and Fianna Éireann.{{Cite book |title=The Encyclopaedia of Ireland |publisher=Gill & Macmillan |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7171-3000-9 |editor-last=Lalor, Brian |location=Dublin, Ireland |pages=7–8}} Adams was an active supporter and joined the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association in 1967. The civil rights movement was met with violence from loyalist counter-demonstrations and the RUC, and British troops were called in at the request of the Government of Northern Ireland.

Adams was active in rioting at this time and later became involved in the republican movement. In August 1971, internment was reintroduced to Northern Ireland under the Special Powers Act 1922. Adams was captured by British soldiers in March 1972 and in a Belfast Telegraph report on Adams' capture he was said to be "one of the most wanted men in Belfast"."Troops catch three top Provisionals", The Belfast Telegraph, 14 March 1972."Detained trio named", The Belfast Telegraph, 15 March 1972. Adams was interned on {{HMS|Maidstone|1937|6}}, but on the Provisional IRA's insistence was released in June to take part in secret, but abortive talks in London. The IRA negotiated a short-lived truce with the British government and an IRA delegation met with British Home Secretary William Whitelaw at Cheyne Walk in Chelsea. The delegation included Adams, Martin McGuinness, Sean Mac Stiofain (IRA Chief of Staff), Daithi O'Conaill, Seamus Twomey, Ivor Bell and Dublin solicitor Myles Shevlin.{{Cite book |last=O'Brien |first=Brendan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Io085Nl0CJQC&q=ira%20delegation%20myles%20shevlin%20william%20whitelaw&pg=PA169 |title=The long war: the IRA and Sinn Féin, Brendan O'Brien, p169 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-8156-0597-3 |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310214138/https://books.google.com/books?id=Io085Nl0CJQC&q=ira%20delegation%20myles%20shevlin%20william%20whitelaw&pg=PA169 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |url-status=live}}

Adams was re-arrested in July 1973 and interned at the Maze prison. After taking part in an IRA-organised escape attempt, he was sentenced to a period of imprisonment. During this time, he wrote articles in the paper An Phoblacht under the by-line "Brownie", where he criticised the strategy and policy of Sinn Féin president Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and Billy McKee, the IRA's officer commanding in Belfast. He was also highly critical of a decision taken by McKee to assassinate members of the rival Official IRA, who had been on ceasefire since 1972.{{sfn|Moloney|2002|pp=166-168}} In 2020, the UK Supreme Court quashed Adams' convictions for attempting to escape on Christmas Eve in 1973 and again in July 1974.{{Cite news |last=Ng |first=Kate |date=14 May 2020 |title=Gerry Adams wins Supreme Court appeal against convictions over prison break bids |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/gerry-adams-maze-prison-escape-supreme-court-conviction-appeal-verdict-a9511666.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200517134945/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/gerry-adams-maze-prison-escape-supreme-court-conviction-appeal-verdict-a9511666.html |archive-date=17 May 2020 |access-date=17 May 2020 |work=The Independent}}

In 1977, Ballymurphy priest Des Wilson (who had officiated at Adams's wedding) assisted with an early attempt by Adams to open channels to dissident unionists. He helped set up meeting with Desmond Boal QC, a unionist barrister who had been first chairman of Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party.{{Cite web |date=11 July 2019 |title=Derry City Cemetery Series: Desmond Boal, the DUP founder and unionist MP who defended dozens of republicans in court |url=https://www.derrynow.com/news/local-news/438702/derry-city-cemetery-series-desmond-boal-the-dup-founder-and-unionist-mp-who-defended-dozens-of-republicans-in-court.html |access-date=21 August 2023 |website=www.derrynow.com |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Ryder |first=Chris |date=7 May 2015 |title=Desmond Boal obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/may/07/desmond-boal |access-date=21 August 2023 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} At the time, Boal was co-operating with Seán MacBride as joint mediator in confidential negotiations between the Provisional IRA and the Ulster Volunteer Force about a federal settlement for Ireland.{{Cite web |last=Maune |first=Patrick |date=2022 |title=Boal, Desmond Norman Orr {{!}} Dictionary of Irish Biography |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/boal-desmond-norman-orr-a10229 |access-date=21 August 2023 |website=www.dib.ie}} A short time later, Wilson drove Adams to a meeting with John McKeague, founding member of the Red Hand Commando, then flirting with the idea of an independent Ulster. Inasmuch as they were "frank" , Adams found the meetings "constructive", but could find no common political ground.{{sfn|Sharrock|Devenport|1997|p=155}} Wilson was of the view that Adams was "one of the very few people who could actually bring a military campaign into a political campaign".{{sfn|Sharrock|Devenport|1997|p=462}}

Adams has consistently denied ever being a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA).{{cite web |last1=McKeown |first1=Lesley-Anne |title=Gerry Adams denies kidnapping and killing Jean McConville |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-50062709 |website=BBC News |access-date=22 November 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241122223603/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-50062709 |archive-date=22 November 2024 |language=en |date=17 October 2019 |url-status=live}}{{Cite news |last=Rosie Cowan |date=1 October 2002 |title=Adams denies IRA links as book calls him a genius |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk_news/story/0,3604,802084,00.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923170528/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/oct/01/northernireland.northernireland |archive-date=23 September 2021 |access-date=22 March 2007 |work=The Guardian |location=London}}{{cite journal |last1=Flavin |first1=Michael |title=Was Gerry Adams a transformational leader? |journal=Small Wars & Insurgencies |date=2 April 2024 |volume=35 |issue=3 |page=434 |doi=10.1080/09592318.2024.2311913 |quote=The IRA that Adams joined in the mid-nineteen sixties was, in effect, moribund, though Adams has always denied IRA membership.|doi-access=free }} However, journalists such as Ed Moloney,{{sfn|Moloney|2002|p=140}} Peter Taylor,{{sfn|Taylor|1997|p=140}} and Mark Urban,{{Cite book |last=Urban |first=Mark |title=Big Boys' Rules: SAS and the Secret Struggle Against the IRA |publisher=Faber and Faber |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-571-16809-5 |page=26}} and historians, such as Richard English{{Cite book |last=English |first=Richard |author-link=Richard English |title=Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA |publisher=Pan Books |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-330-49388-8 |page=110}} and John Bowyer Bell,{{cite book |last1=Bell |first1=J. Bowyer |author1-link=J. Bowyer Bell |title=The IRA, 1968-2000: analysis of a secret army |date=2000 |publisher=Frank Cass |isbn=0714681199 |page=154}} have all named Adams as part of the IRA leadership since the 1970s. Furthermore, several former IRA members, including Brendan Hughes,{{cite web |last1=Kelleher |first1=Lynne |title=Tape accusing SF boss Gerry Adams of death squad role to air on TV |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/tape-accusing-sf-boss-gerry-adams-of-death-squad-role-to-air-on-tv/28566652.html |website=Belfast Telegraph |access-date=22 November 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241122222425/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/tape-accusing-sf-boss-gerry-adams-of-death-squad-role-to-air-on-tv/28566652.html |archive-date=22 November 2024 |language=en |date=25 October 2010 |url-status=live}} Ivor Bell,{{cite web |last1=Kearney |first1=Vincent |title=Bell not guilty of soliciting murder of Jean McConville |url=https://www.rte.ie/news/2019/1017/1083977-ira-court-verdict/ |website=RTÉ News |access-date=22 November 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241122234406/https://www.rte.ie/news/2019/1017/1083977-ira-court-verdict/ |archive-date=22 November 2024 |language=en |date=17 October 2019 |url-status=live}} and Seán Mac Stíofáin,{{cite web |title=Interviews - Sean Macstiofain {{!}} The Ira & Sinn Fein {{!}} FRONTLINE |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ira/inside/mac.html |website=PBS Frontline |access-date=22 November 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120908022003/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ira/inside/mac.html |archive-date=8 September 2012 |language=en |url-status=live}} have said Adams was also a member of the organisation. Practically all academics agree that Adams joined the IRA in the mid-1960s, was the Officer commanding (OC) of the 2nd battalion of the Belfast Brigade from 1971 to 1972, became the adjutant for the brigade in 1972, and had become the OC of the brigade by 1973.{{cite journal |last1=Hopkins |first1=Stephen |title=The life history of an exemplary Provisional republican: Gerry Adams and the politics of biography |journal=Irish Political Studies |date=3 April 2018 |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=11–12 |doi=10.1080/07907184.2018.1454666|hdl=2381/43742 |hdl-access=free }}

Moloney and Taylor state that Adams became the IRA's Chief of Staff following the arrest of Seamus Twomey in early December 1977, remaining in the position until 18 February 1978 when he, along with twenty other republican suspects, was arrested following the La Mon restaurant bombing.{{sfn|Moloney|2002|pp=171-172}}{{sfn|Taylor|1997|p=201}} He was charged with IRA membership and remanded to Crumlin Road Gaol.{{sfn|Moloney|2002|p=173}} He was released seven months later when the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland Robert Lowry ruled there was insufficient evidence to proceed with the prosecution.{{sfn|Moloney|2002|p=173}}{{sfn|Taylor|1997|pp=201-202}} Moloney and English state Adams had been a member of the IRA Army Council since 1977, remaining a member until 2005 according to former Irish Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform Michael McDowell.{{sfn|Moloney|2002|p=380}}{{Cite news |date=29 July 2005 |title=SF members 'leave army council' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4718811.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190814153113/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4718811.stm |archive-date=14 August 2019 |access-date=13 October 2019 |via=news.bbc.co.uk}}

{{Blockquote

|text=Rightly or wrongly, I am an IRA Volunteer and, rightly or wrongly, I take a course of action as a means to bringing about a situation in which I believe the people of my country will prosper.

|author="Brownie" (reportedly a pseudonym of Adams') in an article written in An Phoblacht while Adams was a prisoner in Long Kesh in 1976{{cite book |last1=Shanahan |first1=Timothy |title=The Provisional Irish Republican Army and the morality of terrorism |date=18 December 2009 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |location=Edinburgh |isbn=978-0748635290 |pages=125–126 |language=en}}{{cite web |last1=Stanage |first1=Niall |title=Blood and guts |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/oct/02/northernireland.comment |website=The Guardian |access-date=22 November 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241122213912/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/oct/02/northernireland.comment |archive-date=22 November 2024 |language=en |date=2 October 2002 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |last1=Cusack |first1=Jim |title=Adams denial of IRA membership mocks his history |url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/adams-denial-of-ira-membership-mocks-his-history/26218540.html |website=Irish Independent |access-date=22 November 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241122214154/https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/adams-denial-of-ira-membership-mocks-his-history/26218540.html |archive-date=22 November 2024 |language=en |date=7 March 2004 |url-status=live}}

}}

File:Gerry Adams reading into mic.jpg (2001)]]

In 1978, Adams became joint vice-president of Sinn Féin and a key figure in directing a challenge to the Sinn Féin leadership of President Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and joint vice-president Dáithí Ó Conaill. The 1975 IRA-British truce is often viewed as the event that began the challenge to the original Provisional Sinn Féin leadership, which was dominated by southerners like Ó Brádaigh and Ó Conaill.

One of the reasons that the Provisional IRA and Provisional Sinn Féin were founded, in December 1969 and January 1970, respectively, was that people like Ó Brádaigh, Ó Conaill and McKee opposed participation in constitutional politics. The other reason was the failure of the Cathal Goulding leadership to provide for the defence of Irish nationalist areas during the 1969 Northern Ireland riots. When, at the December 1969 IRA convention and the January 1970 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis, the delegates voted to participate in the Dublin (Leinster House), Belfast (Stormont) and London (Westminster) parliaments, the organisations split. Adams, who had joined the republican movement in the early 1960s, sided with the Provisionals.

In the Maze prison in the mid-1970s, writing under the pseudonym "Brownie" in Republican News, Adams called for increased political activity among republicans, especially at local level.{{Cite news |date=19 June 2004 |title=Sinn Féin: where does the money come from? |url=http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=36&si=1201596&issue_id=11029 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904035249/http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=36&si=1201596&issue_id=11029 |archive-date=4 September 2015 |work=Irish Independent}} The call resonated with younger Northern people, some of whom had been active in the Provisional IRA but few of whom had been active in Sinn Féin. In 1977, Adams and Danny Morrison drafted the address of Jimmy Drumm at the annual Wolfe Tone commemoration at Bodenstown. The address was viewed as watershed in that Drumm acknowledged that the war would be a long one and that success depended on political activity that would complement the IRA's armed campaign. For some,{{Who|date=August 2010}} this wedding of politics and armed struggle culminated in Danny Morrison's statement at the 1981 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis in which he asked "Who here really believes we can win the war through the ballot box? But will anyone here object if, with a ballot paper in one hand and the Armalite in the other, we take power in Ireland?" For others, however, the call to link political activity with armed struggle had already been defined in Sinn Féin policy and in the presidential addresses of Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, but this had not resonated with young Northerners.Robert White, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, The Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary, pp. 258–59.

File:Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, Martin McGuinness & Gerry Adams at Bodenstown, 1997.jpg and Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin in 1997]]

Even after the election of Bobby Sands as MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, a part of the mass mobilisation associated with the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike by republican prisoners in the H blocks of the Maze Prison, Adams was cautious that the level of political involvement by Sinn Féin could lead to electoral embarrassment. Charles Haughey, the Taoiseach of Ireland, called an election for June 1981. At an Ard Chomhairle meeting, Adams recommended that they contest only four constituencies which were in border counties. Instead, H-Block/Armagh candidates contested nine constituencies and elected two TDs. This, along with the election of Sands, was a precursor to an electoral breakthrough in elections in 1982 to the 1982 Northern Ireland Assembly.{{Cite web |last=Nicholas Whyte |title=Northern Ireland Assembly Elections 1982 |url=http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/fa82.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070213021450/http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/fa82.htm |archive-date=13 February 2007 |access-date=1 January 2011 |publisher=Ark.ac.uk}} Adams, Danny Morrison, Martin McGuinness, Jim McAllister and Owen Carron were elected as abstentionists. The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) had announced before the election that it would not take any seats and so its 14 elected representatives also abstained from participating in the Assembly and it was a failure. The 1982 election was followed by the 1983 Westminster election, in which Sinn Féin's vote increased and Adams was elected, as an abstentionist, as MP for Belfast West. It was in 1983 that Ruairí Ó Brádaigh resigned as President of Sinn Féin and was succeeded by Adams.

In 1983, Adams was elected president of Sinn Féin and became the first Sinn Féin MP elected to the British House of Commons since Phil Clarke and Tom Mitchell in the mid-1950s. Following his election as MP for Belfast West, the British government lifted a ban on his travelling to Great Britain. In line with Sinn Féin policy, he refused to take his seat in the House of Commons.{{Cite news |title=Gerry Adams Fast Facts |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/27/europe/gerry-adams-fast-facts |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107004855/http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/27/world/europe/gerry-adams-fast-facts/index.html |archive-date=7 November 2017 |access-date=6 November 2017 |work=CNN}}

On 14 March 1984 in central Belfast, Adams was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt when Ulster Defence Association (UDA) gunmen fired about 20 shots into the car in which he was travelling. He was hit in the neck, shoulder and arm. He was rushed to the Royal Victoria Hospital, where he underwent surgery to remove three bullets. John Gregg and his team were apprehended almost immediately by a British Army patrol that opened fire on them before ramming their car.{{sfn|McDonald|Cusack|2004|p=129}} The attack had been known in advance by security forces due to a tip-off from informants within the UDA; Adams and his co-passengers had survived in part because RUC officers, acting on the informants' information, had replaced much of the ammunition in the UDA's Rathcoole weapons dump with low-velocity bullets.{{sfn|McDonald|Cusack|2004|pp=129-130}} Some, including Adams himself, still have unanswered questions about the RUC's actions prior to the shooting.{{Cite news |last=Kevin Maguire |date=14 December 2006 |title=Adams wants 1984 shooting probe |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6179789.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070127140434/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6179789.stm |archive-date=27 January 2007 |access-date=22 March 2007 |publisher=BBC}} An Ulster Defence Regiment NCO subsequently received the Queen's Gallantry Medal for chasing and arresting an assailant.Potter, p. 268.{{full citation needed|date=April 2024}}

Many republicans had long claimed that the only legitimate Irish state was the Irish Republic declared in the 1916 Proclamation of the Republic. In their view, the legitimate government was the IRA Army Council, which had been vested with the authority of that Republic in 1938 (prior to the Second World War) by the last remaining anti-Treaty deputies of the Second Dáil. In his 2005 speech to the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis in Dublin, Adams explicitly rejected this view. "But we refuse to criminalise those who break the law in pursuit of legitimate political objectives. ... Sinn Féin is accused of recognising the Army Council of the IRA as the legitimate government of this island. That is not the case. [We] do not believe that the Army Council is the government of Ireland. Such a government will only exist when all the people of this island elect it. Does Sinn Féin accept the institutions of this state as the legitimate institutions of this state? Of course we do."[http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/politics/docs/sf/ga050305.htm Adams, Gerry, Speech to 2005 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608075548/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/politics/docs/sf/ga050305.htm |date=8 June 2011 }} CAIN Web Service.

As a result of this non-recognition, Sinn Féin had abstained from taking any of the seats they won in the British or Irish parliaments. At its 1986 Ard Fheis, Sinn Féin delegates passed a resolution to amend the rules and constitution that would allow its members to sit in the Dublin parliament. At this, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh led a small walkout, just as he and Sean Mac Stiofain had done sixteen years earlier with the creation of Provisional Sinn Féin.{{sfn|Taylor|1997|p=291}}{{Cite book |last=Anderson |first=Brendan |title=Joe Cahill: A Life in the IRA |publisher=O'Brien Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-86278-836-0 |page=340}}{{Cite book |last=O'Brien |first=Brendan |author-link=Brendan O'Brien (Irish journalist) |title=The Long War: The IRA and Sinn Féin |publisher=O'Brien Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-86278-606-9 |page=130}}{{Cite book |last1=Bishop, Patrick |title=The Provisional IRA |last2=Mallie, Eamonn |publisher=Corgi Books |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-552-13337-1 |page=448}} This minority, which rejected dropping the policy of abstentionism, now distinguishes itself from Sinn Féin by using the name Republican Sinn Féin, and maintains that they are the true Sinn Féin.

Adams' leadership of Sinn Féin was supported by a Northern-based cadre that included people like Danny Morrison and Martin McGuinness. Over time, Adams and others pointed to republican electoral successes in the early and mid-1980s, when hunger strikers Bobby Sands and Kieran Doherty were elected to the British House of Commons and Dáil Éireann respectively, and they advocated that Sinn Féin become increasingly political and base its influence on electoral politics rather than paramilitarism. The electoral effects of this strategy were shown later by the election of Adams and McGuinness to the House of Commons.

Adams's prominence as an Irish republican leader was increased by the 1988–1994 British broadcasting voice restrictions,[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4409447.stm The 'broadcast ban' on Sinn Fein] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070216115142/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4409447.stm |date=16 February 2007 }}, BBC News, 5 April 2005. which were imposed by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to "starve the terrorist and the hijacker of the oxygen of publicity on which they depend".Edgerton, Gary [https://archive.today/20130105074546/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119204907/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 Quelling the "Oxygen of Publicity": British Broadcasting and "The Troubles" During the Thatcher Years], The Journal of Popular Culture, Volume 30, Issue 1, pp. 115–32. Thatcher was moved to act after BBC interviews of Martin McGuinness and Adams had been the focus of a row over an edition of After Dark, a proposed Channel 4 discussion programme which in the event was never made.[http://staff.stir.ac.uk/david.miller/news/IrishTimes-94.html Dubbing SF voices becomes the stuff of history] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050317093432/http://staff.stir.ac.uk/david.miller/news/IrishTimes-94.html |date=17 March 2005 }}, By Michael Foley The Irish Times, 17 September 1994. While the ban covered 11 Irish political parties and paramilitary organisations, in practice it mostly affected Sinn Féin, the most prominent of these bodies.{{Cite news |last=FRANKEL |first=GLENN |date=18 November 1990 |title=Britain's Media Ban on Terrorist Groups Remains Controversial : Censorship: Voices of revered statesmen are silenced in history program broadcast to schoolchildren in Northern Ireland. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-11-18-mn-6586-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118045830/http://articles.latimes.com/1990-11-18/news/mn-6586_1_northern-ireland |archive-date=18 November 2018 |access-date=6 November 2017 |work=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US |issn=0458-3035}}

A similar ban, known as Section 31, had been law in the Republic of Ireland since the 1970s. However, media outlets soon found ways around the bans. In the UK, this was initially by the use of subtitles, but later and more often by an actor reading words accompanied by video footage of the banned person speaking. Actors who voiced Adams included Stephen Rea and Paul Loughran.{{Cite web |date=22 December 2011 |title=Paul Loughran |url=http://www.ulsteractors.com/l/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016061146/http://www.ulsteractors.com/l/ |archive-date=16 October 2015 |access-date=30 September 2015 |website=Ulsteractors.com}}{{Cite news |last1=Foy |first1=Ken |last2=Murphy |first2=Cormac |date=24 January 2014 |title=Dolours Price, former IRA terrorist and ex-wife of actor Stephen Rea, dies of suspected overdose |url=http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/dolours-price-former-ira-terrorist-and-exwife-of-actor-stephen-rea-dies-of-suspected-overdose-29022340.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925022040/http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/dolours-price-former-ira-terrorist-and-exwife-of-actor-stephen-rea-dies-of-suspected-overdose-29022340.html |archive-date=25 September 2015 |access-date=30 September 2015 |work=Irish Independent}} This loophole could not be used in the Republic, as word-for-word broadcasts were not allowed.{{Cite news |date=22 January 2014 |title=BBC News – Twenty years on: The lifting of the ban on broadcasting Sinn Féin |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25843314 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180415093527/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25843314 |archive-date=15 April 2018 |access-date=22 June 2018 |work=BBC News}} Instead, the banned speaker's words were summarised by the newsreader, over video of them speaking.

These bans were lampooned in cartoons, by comedians and satirical TV shows, such as Jasper Carrott, Spitting Image, and in The Day Today, and were criticised by freedom of speech organisations and media personalities, including BBC Director General John Birt and BBC foreign editor John Simpson. The Republic's ban was allowed to lapse in January 1994, and the British ban was lifted by Prime Minister John Major in September 1994.{{Cite news |title=CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1994 |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch94.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190102135434/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch94.htm |archive-date=2 January 2019 |access-date=5 May 2014 |work=Conflict Archive on the Internet |publisher=University of Ulster}}{{Cite news |date=17 September 1994 |title=Britain Ends Broadcast Ban on Irish Extremists : Negotiations: Prime Minister Major also backs referendum on Northern Ireland's fate. Both moves indicate desire to move ahead on peace plan |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-09-17-mn-39492-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131218125551/http://articles.latimes.com/1994-09-17/news/mn-39492_1_northern-ireland |archive-date=18 December 2013 |access-date=5 May 2014 |work=Los Angeles Times}}

File:President Bill Clinton and Gerry Adams.jpg Bill Clinton in 1995]]

Sinn Féin continued its policy of refusing to sit in the Westminster Parliament after Adams won the Belfast West constituency. He lost his seat to Joe Hendron of the SDLP in the 1992 general election,{{Cite book |last=Cook |first=Bernard A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P7-2AgAAQBAJ&q=gerry+adams+lost+his+seat+to+Joe+Hendron+of+the+Social+Democratic+and+Labour+Party+%28SDLP%29&pg=PT688 |title=Europe Since 1945: An Encyclopedia |date=27 January 2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781135179328 |language=en |access-date=25 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310214610/https://books.google.com/books?id=P7-2AgAAQBAJ&q=gerry+adams+lost+his+seat+to+Joe+Hendron+of+the+Social+Democratic+and+Labour+Party+%28SDLP%29&pg=PT688 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |url-status=live}} regaining it at the following 1997 election. Under Adams, Sinn Féin moved away from being a political voice of the Provisional IRA to becoming a professionally organised political party in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

SDLP leader John Hume identified the possibility that a negotiated settlement might be possible and began secret talks with Adams in 1988. These discussions led to unofficial contacts with the British Northern Ireland Office under the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Brooke, and with the government of the Republic under Charles Haughey – although both governments maintained in public that they would not negotiate with terrorists.{{citation needed|date=October 2015}} These talks provided the groundwork for what was later to be the Belfast Agreement, preceded by the milestone Downing Street Declaration and the Joint Framework Document.{{Cite book |last=Albert |first=Cornelia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B0Djz3Aq_7IC&q=Belfast+Agreement%2C+preceded+by+the+milestone+Downing+Street+Declaration+and+the+Joint+Framework+Document.&pg=PA47 |title=The Peacebuilding Elements of the Belfast Agreement and the Transformation of the Northern Ireland Conflict |date=2009 |publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=9783631585917 |language=en |access-date=25 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310214531/https://books.google.com/books?id=B0Djz3Aq_7IC&q=Belfast+Agreement%2C+preceded+by+the+milestone+Downing+Street+Declaration+and+the+Joint+Framework+Document.&pg=PA47 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |url-status=live}}

These negotiations led to the IRA ceasefire in August 1994. Taoiseach Albert Reynolds, who had replaced Haughey and who had played a key role in the Hume/Adams dialogue through his Special Advisor Martin Mansergh, regarded the ceasefire as permanent. However, the slow pace of developments contributed in part to the (wider) political difficulties of the British government of John Major. His consequent reliance on Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) votes in the House of Commons led to him agreeing with the UUP demand to exclude Sinn Féin from talks until the IRA had decommissioned its weapons. Sinn Féin's exclusion led the IRA to end its ceasefire and resume its campaign.{{Cite news |title=When peace almost died of exhaustion |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/news/when-peace-almost-died-of-exhaustion-1.90029 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151004133751/http://www.irishtimes.com/news/when-peace-almost-died-of-exhaustion-1.90029 |archive-date=4 October 2015 |access-date=3 October 2015 |newspaper=The Irish Times}}

After the 1997 United Kingdom general election, the new Labour government had a majority in the House of Commons and was not reliant on unionist votes. The subsequent dropping of the insistence led to another IRA ceasefire, as part of the negotiations strategy, which saw teams from the British and Irish governments, the UUP, the SDLP, Sinn Féin, and representatives of loyalist paramilitary organisations, under the chairmanship of former United States Senator George Mitchell, produce the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. Under the Agreement, structures were created reflecting the Irish and British identities of the people of Ireland, creating a British-Irish Council and a Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly.{{Cite news |title=Good Friday Agreement {{!}} British-Irish history |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Good-Friday-Agreement |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107032336/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Good-Friday-Agreement |archive-date=7 November 2017 |access-date=6 November 2017 |work=Encyclopædia Britannica |language=en}}

Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution of Ireland of the Republic's constitution, which claimed sovereignty over all of Ireland, were reworded, and a power-sharing Executive Committee was provided for. As part of their deal, Sinn Féin agreed to abandon its abstentionist policy regarding a "six-county parliament", as a result taking seats in the new Stormont-based Assembly and running the education and health and social services ministries in the power-sharing government.

File:George W. Bush, Peter King, and Gerry Adams.jpg George W. Bush and Peter King in 2001]]

On 15 August 1998, four months after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, the Omagh bombing by the Real IRA, killed 29 people and injured 220, from multiple communities. Adams said in reaction to the bombing "I am totally horrified by this action. I condemn it without any equivocation whatsoever."{{Cite news |date=16 August 1998 |title=Sinn Féin condemnation 'unequivocal' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/events/northern_ireland/latest_news/151949.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170314110520/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/events/northern_ireland/latest_news/151949.stm |archive-date=14 March 2017 |access-date=10 August 2020 |publisher=BBC}} Prior to this, Adams had not used the word "condemn" in relation to IRA or their splinter groups' actions.{{Cite news |date=17 August 1998 |title=Adams's condemnation further isolates dissidents |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/adams-s-condemnation-further-isolates-dissidents-1.183686 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202231437/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/adams-s-condemnation-further-isolates-dissidents-1.183686 |archive-date=2 December 2020 |access-date=10 August 2020 |publisher=Irish Times}}

In March 2007, Adams was re-elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in March 2007, and subsequently met with DUP leader Ian Paisley face-to-face for the first time. These talks led to the St Andrews Agreement, which brought about the return of the power-sharing Executive in Northern Ireland.{{Cite news |date=26 March 2007 |title=May date for return to devolution |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6494599.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070401031536/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6494599.stm |archive-date=1 April 2007 |access-date=26 March 2007 |publisher=BBC}} When Sinn Féin came to nominate its two ministers to the Northern Ireland Executive, for tactical reasons the party, like the SDLP and the DUP, chose not to include its leader among its ministers.

In January 2009, Adams attended the United States presidential inauguration of Barack Obama as a guest of US Congressman Richard Neal.19/Jan/2009 [https://web.archive.org/web/20091217102946/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/4293350/Barack-Obama-inauguration-Gerry-Adams-to-attend-ceremony.html Barack Obama inauguration: Gerry Adams to attend ceremony] The Daily Telegraph.

Adams was re-elected as MP for West Belfast with 71.1% of the vote in May 2010,{{Cite news |date=7 May 2010 |title=Election 2010 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/election2010/results/constituency/704.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505132756/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/election2010/results/constituency/704.stm |archive-date=5 May 2021 |access-date=7 May 2010 |publisher=BBC}} but resigned his seat the following December,{{Cite web |last=Northern Ireland Assembly Information Office |title=NI Assembly membership, note 17 |url=http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/members/membership07.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117060753/http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/members/membership07.htm |archive-date=17 November 2007 |access-date=1 January 2011 |publisher=Niassembly.gov.uk}} in order to seek election as a TD (member of Irish Parliament) for the constituency of Louth at the 2011 Irish general election.{{Cite news |date=14 November 2010 |title=Adams to contest Co Louth seat for SF in next election |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/1114/breaking2.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101122014644/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/1114/breaking2.html |archive-date=22 November 2010 |access-date=14 November 2010 |newspaper=The Irish Times}}{{Cite web |date=20 January 2011 |title=Gerry Adams quits Westminster seat |url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/gerry-adams-quits-westminster-seat-15059866.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120729210027/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/gerry-adams-quits-westminster-seat-15059866.html |archive-date=29 July 2012 |access-date=24 January 2011 |website=The Belfast Telegraph}}{{Cite news |date=20 January 2011 |title=Gerry Adams resigns as West Belfast MP |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-12246725 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110123020018/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-12246725 |archive-date=23 January 2011 |access-date=24 January 2011 |publisher=BBC}} He topped the poll in the consistuency with 15,072 (21.7%) first preference votes,{{Cite news |date=28 February 2011 |title=Louth – RTÉ News |url=http://www.rte.ie/news/election2011/results/louth.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110228221707/http://www.rte.ie/news/election2011/results/louth.html |archive-date=28 February 2011 |access-date=6 March 2011 |publisher=Raidió Teilifís Éireann}} and was duly elected to Dáil Éireann where he succeeded Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin as Sinn Féin parliamentary leader.{{Cite web |title=Gerry Adams |url=http://bigthink.com/experts/gerryadams |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107010608/http://bigthink.com/experts/gerryadams |archive-date=7 November 2017 |access-date=6 November 2017 |website=Big Think}}

In December 2013, Adams was a member of the Guard of Honour at Nelson Mandela's funeral.{{Cite web |date=14 December 2013 |title=Gerry Adams picked for guard of honour for Mandela |url=https://www.thejournal.ie/gerry-adams-guard-of-honour-nelson-mandela-1222286-Dec2013/ |access-date=1 February 2021 |website=The Journal}}{{Cite web |date=19 December 2013 |title=Madiba's legacy of hope – Gerry Adams on being at the funeral of Nelson Mandela |url=https://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/23628/ |access-date=1 February 2021 |website=An Phoblacht}}

On 30 April 2014, Adams was arrested by detectives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Serious Crime Branch, under the Terrorism Act 2000, in connection with the murder of Jean McConville in 1972.{{Cite news |last=O'Connell |first=Hugh |date=2 May 2014 |title=The PSNI have been granted an extra 48 hours to question Gerry Adams |url=http://www.thejournal.ie/gerry-adams-sinn-fein-arrest-1445393-May2014/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140528005815/http://www.thejournal.ie/gerry-adams-sinn-fein-arrest-1445393-May2014/ |archive-date=28 May 2014 |access-date=27 May 2014 |work=thejournal.ie}} He had previously voluntarily arranged to be interviewed by police regarding the matter,{{Cite news |last=McDonald |first=Henry |date=30 April 2014 |title=Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams held over 1972 Jean McConville killing |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/apr/30/gerry-adams-held-jean-mconville-killing |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140501075314/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/apr/30/gerry-adams-held-jean-mconville-killing |archive-date=1 May 2014 |access-date=30 April 2014 |work=The Guardian |location=London}} and maintained he had no involvement.{{Cite news |date=30 April 2014 |title=Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams held over Jean McConville murder |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27232731 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140430235109/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27232731 |archive-date=30 April 2014 |access-date=30 April 2014 |work=BBC News |location=London}} Fellow Sinn Féin politician Alex Maskey stated that the timing of the arrest, "three weeks into an election", was evidence of a "political agenda [...] a negative agenda" by the PSNI.{{Cite news |last=Beaton |first=Connor |date=30 April 2014 |title=SF MLA: Adams arrest 'negative PSNI agenda' |url=http://thetarge.co.uk/article/current-affairs/0258/sinn-fein-mla-adams-arrest-negative-psni-agenda |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201007203220/http://thetarge.co.uk/article/current-affairs/0258/sinn-fein-mla-adams-arrest-negative-psni-agenda |archive-date=7 October 2020 |access-date=30 April 2014 |publisher=The Targe}} McConville's family had campaigned for the arrest of Adams for the murder.[https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/gerry-adams-sinn-fein-leader-3480389 Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams arrested over murder of widowed mother abducted in 1972] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920222447/http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/gerry-adams-sinn-fein-leader-3480389 |date=20 September 2016 }} McConville's son Michael said that his family did not think the arrest of Adams would ever happen, and were glad that the arrest took place. Adams was released without charge after four days in custody when a file was sent to the Public Prosecution Service, which would decide if criminal charges should be brought.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-27232731 Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams held over Jean McConville murder] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181024113939/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-27232731 |date=24 October 2018 }}. BBC News. 30 April 2014.[http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/shadow-of-jean-mcconville-murder-still-hangs-over-gerry-adams-and-sinn-fein-30244125.html Shadow of Jean McConville murder still hangs over Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140505073500/http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/shadow-of-jean-mcconville-murder-still-hangs-over-gerry-adams-and-sinn-fein-30244125.html |date=5 May 2014 }} Irish Independent, 5 May 2014.{{Cite news |date=4 May 2014 |title=Adams released without charge |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-27278039 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140504230216/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-27278039 |archive-date=4 May 2014 |access-date=4 May 2014 |publisher=BBC}}

At a press conference after his release, Adams criticised the timing of his arrest, reiterated Sinn Féin's support for the PSNI and said: "The IRA is gone. It is finished."{{Cite news |date=4 May 2014 |title=BBC News – Gerry Adams freed in Jean McConville murder inquiry |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27278039 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180727120602/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27278039 |archive-date=27 July 2018 |access-date=22 June 2018 |work=BBC News}} Adams denied that he had any involvement in the murder or was ever a member of the IRA,{{Cite web |date=6 May 2014 |title=Gerry Adams denies McConville son 'backlash threat' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27280446 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140511043534/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27280446 |archive-date=11 May 2014 |access-date=11 May 2014 |publisher=BBC |quote=The Sinn Fein president was questioned for four days in connection with the murder of Jean McConville and membership of the IRA.He has strongly denied all those allegations. ... He again said he was innocent of any involvement in Mrs McConville's murder.}} and said the allegations came from "enemies of the peace process". On 29 September 2015 the Public Prosecution Service announced Adams would not face charges, due to insufficient evidence,{{Cite news |date=29 September 2015 |title=Gerry Adams will not face charges over Jean McConville murder |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/29/gerry-adams-will-not-face-trial-over-jean-mcconville |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160606111618/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/29/gerry-adams-will-not-face-trial-over-jean-mcconville |archive-date=6 June 2016 |access-date=22 June 2016 |work=The Guardian}} as had been expected ever since a BBC report dated 6 May 2014 (2 days after the BBC reported his release),{{Cite web |date=6 May 2014 |title=Gerry Adams denies McConville son 'backlash threat' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27280446 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140511043534/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27280446 |archive-date=11 May 2014 |access-date=11 May 2014 |publisher=BBC |quote=BBC News understands there was insufficient evidence to charge Mr Adams with any offence.}} which was widely repeated elsewhere.{{Cite news |last=Anthony Bond, Sam Adams |date=6 May 2014 |title="Insufficient evidence" to 'pursue prosecution of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams' |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/gerry-adams-arrest-insufficient-evidence-3501200 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140507105217/http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/gerry-adams-arrest-insufficient-evidence-3501200 |archive-date=7 May 2014 |access-date=11 May 2014 |work=Daily Mirror |quote=No charges would be brought against Mr Adams unless significant new evidence comes to light, according to reports ... There is "insufficient evidence" to pursue a prosecution against Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams in relation to the 1972 murder of Jean McConville, according to reports. The BBC said it understood that no charges would be brought against Mr Adams unless significant new evidence comes to light.}}

File:Euclid Tsakalotos Gerry Adams 2015.jpg at the Sinn Féin ardfheis in March 2015]]

On 19 May 2015, while on an official royal trip to Ireland, Prince Charles shook Adams' hand in what was described as a highly symbolic gesture of reconciliation. The meeting, described as "historic", took place in Galway.[https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/may/19/prince-charles-and-gerry-adams-share-historic-handshake "Prince Charles and Gerry Adams share historic handshake". The Guardian. Henry McDonald. 19 May 2015] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150521013218/http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/may/19/prince-charles-and-gerry-adams-share-historic-handshake |date=21 May 2015 }} retrieved 20 May 2015.

In September 2017, Adams said he would allow his name to go forward for a one-year term as president of Sinn Féin at the November ardfheis, at which point Sinn Féin would begin a "planned process of generational change, including [Adams'] own future intentions". This resulted in speculation in the Irish and British media that Adams was preparing to stand down as party leader, and that he might run for President of Ireland in the next election.{{Cite news |date=5 September 2017 |title=Sinn Fein's Adams to outline succession plan in November |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ireland-politics-adams/sinn-feins-adams-to-outline-succession-plan-in-november-idUSKCN1BG1DA |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905144320/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ireland-politics-adams/sinn-feins-adams-to-outline-succession-plan-in-november-idUSKCN1BG1DA |archive-date=5 September 2017 |access-date=5 September 2017 |work=Reuters.com}}{{Cite news |last=McDonald |first=Henry |date=5 September 2017 |title=Gerry Adams signals intention to stand down as Sinn Féin leader |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/sep/05/gerry-adams-signals-intention-to-stand-down-as-sinn-fein-leader |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905133150/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/sep/05/gerry-adams-signals-intention-to-stand-down-as-sinn-fein-leader |archive-date=5 September 2017 |access-date=5 September 2017 |work=TheGuardian.com}}{{Cite news |last=Downing |first=John |date=5 September 2017 |title=Gerry Adams will seek re-election as Sinn Féin leader and then set out plans to step down |url=http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/gerry-adams-will-seek-reelection-as-sinn-fin-leader-and-then-set-out-plans-to-step-down-36101620.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905123826/http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/gerry-adams-will-seek-reelection-as-sinn-fin-leader-and-then-set-out-plans-to-step-down-36101620.html |archive-date=5 September 2017 |access-date=5 September 2017 |work=Irish Independent}} At the ardfheis on 18 November, Adams was re-elected for another year as party president, but announced that he would step down at some point in 2018, and would not seek re-election as TD for Louth.

Image:Gerry Adams & Mary Lou McDonald 2014.jpg, pictured here in 2014]]

Adams' presidency of Sinn Féin ended on 10 February 2018, with his stepping down and the election of Mary Lou McDonald as the party's new president.[https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2018/0210/939695-sinn-fein-leadership/ McDonald succeeds Adams as President of Sinn Féin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180210183926/https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2018/0210/939695-sinn-fein-leadership/ |date=10 February 2018 }}. RTÉ. Published 11 February 2018. Retrieved 27 March 2018.

On 13 July 2018, a home-made bomb was thrown at Adams' home in West Belfast, damaging a car parked in his driveway. Adams escaped injury and claimed that his two grandchildren were standing in the driveway only ten minutes before the blast. Another bomb was set off that same evening at the nearby home of former IRA volunteer and Sinn Féin official Bobby Storey. In a press conference the following day, Adams said he thought the attacks were linked to the riots in Derry, and asked that those responsible "come and sit down" and "give us the rationale for this action".{{Cite news |title=Gerry Adams demands bombers who attacked his house explain why |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/gerry-adams-derry-riots-sinn-fein-explosive-device-northern-ireland-a8447151.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180714164522/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/gerry-adams-derry-riots-sinn-fein-explosive-device-northern-ireland-a8447151.html |archive-date=14 July 2018 |access-date=24 July 2018 |work=The Independent}}{{Cite news |last=Ainsworth |first=Paul |date=16 July 2018 |title=Video: CCTV captures attack on Gerry Adams' home |url=https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2018/07/16/news/belfast-rally-to-show-support-for-gerry-adams-following-attack-on-home-1382981/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716175514/https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2018/07/16/news/belfast-rally-to-show-support-for-gerry-adams-following-attack-on-home-1382981/ |archive-date=16 July 2018 |access-date=24 July 2018 |work=The Irish News |language=en}}

In 2017, Adams launched a defamation case against the BBC over a programme it ran that alleged he sanctioned the murder of an informer. The case stems from a 2016 BBC Northern Ireland Spotlight TV documentary. The programme focused on Denis Donaldson, a member of Sinn Féin, who was also in the IRA. He was murdered in 2006, four months after Adams revealed that he was an informer for the MI5. At the time, the murder was condemned by all, including Adams. Adams also denied any involvement in his murder.{{Cite web |last=Ward-Brennan |first=Maria |date=2025-04-29 |title=Gerry Adams' libel case against BBC kicks off |url=https://www.cityam.com/gerry-adams-libel-case-against-bbc-kicks-off/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=City AM |language=en-GB}} In May 2025, Adams won the case, with the jury ruling the programme defamatory and awarding him €100,000 (approximately £85,000) in damages.{{Cite web |title=Former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams wins BBC defamation case |url=https://news.sky.com/story/former-sinn-fein-leader-gerry-adams-wins-bbc-defamation-case-13375429 |access-date=2025-05-30 |website=Sky News |language=en}} Following the trial, Adams said: “I’ve always been satisfied with my reputation ... we all have flaws in our character, but the jury made the decision and let’s accept the outcome."{{Cite news |last=Lawless |first=Jill |date=2025-05-30 |title=Former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams wins libel case against BBC over claim he sanctioned killing |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/05/30/world/sinn-fein-gerry-adams-bbc/ |work=The Boston Globe}}

{{Irish republicanism}}

{{republicanism sidebar}}

In 1971, Adams married Collette McArdle.{{Cite news |last=McKittrick |first=David |date=10 April 2006 |title=Gerry Adams: 'The war is over for me ... but is it over for Ian Paisley?' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/gerry-adams-the-war-is-over-for-me-but-is-it-over-for-ian-paisley-6104043.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200630221116/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/gerry-adams-the-war-is-over-for-me-but-is-it-over-for-ian-paisley-6104043.html |archive-date=30 June 2020 |access-date=18 May 2020 |work=The Independent}} Their son Gearoid who was born in 1973,{{sfn|Moloney|2002|p=129}} went on to play Gaelic football for Antrim GAA senior men's team and became its assistant manager in 2012.[http://hoganstand.com/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=176829 Adams declares Antrim interest] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140508030029/http://hoganstand.com/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=176829 |date=8 May 2014 }} HoganStand, 5 September 2012.

In 2013, Adams' brother Liam was found guilty of 10 offences, including rape and gross indecency committed against his own daughter.{{Cite news |date=1 October 2013 |title=Liam Adams convicted of raping and abusing daughter by|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-24348798 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131001155725/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-24348798 |archive-date=1 October 2013 |access-date=1 October 2013 |work=BBC News}}{{Cite news |last=McDonald |first=Henry |date=1 October 2013 |title=Liam Adams found guilty of raping his eldest daughter |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/oct/01/liam-adams-guilty-raping-oldest-daughter |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131001175555/http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/oct/01/liam-adams-guilty-raping-oldest-daughter |archive-date=1 October 2013 |access-date=1 October 2013 |work=The Guardian}} After the allegations of abuse were first made public in 2009, Gerry Adams alleged that his father had subjected family members to emotional, physical, and sexual abuse.{{Cite news |date=20 December 2009 |title=Sinn Féin's Gerry Adams reveals family abuse history |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8423357.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923170528/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8423357.stm |archive-date=23 September 2021 |access-date=20 December 2009 |publisher=The BBC}}[http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/1220/adams.html Adams reveals family history of abuse] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024043509/http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/1220/adams.html |date=24 October 2012 }}. RTÉ News and Current Affairs. Sunday, 20 December 2009. Audio interview also available from that page. Liam was jailed for 16 years,[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25122804 Liam Adams jailed for raping and abusing daughter] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724224502/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25122804 |date=24 July 2020 }}, BBC News, 27 November 2013. and died of pancreatic cancer in February 2019 at the age of 63 while in Maghaberry Prison.{{Cite news |date=6 October 2021 |title=Liam Adams: 'No missed or delayed diagnosis' in sex offender's death |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-58807705 |work=BBC News}}

In 2016, Adams sparked controversy by posting "Watching Django Unchained—A Ballymurphy Nigger!" on social media.{{Cite web |title=Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams apologises for racial slur |url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/sinn-fein-leader-gerry-adams-tweets-racial-slur-011315030.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160503160455/https://www.yahoo.com/news/sinn-fein-leader-gerry-adams-tweets-racial-slur-011315030.html |archive-date=3 May 2016 |access-date=16 May 2016 |website=www.yahoo.com}} This was widely reported,{{Cite web |title=Gerry Adams, Sinn Fein president, tweets N-word |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/may/1/gerry-adams-sinn-fein-president-tweets-n-word/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160504172537/http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/may/1/gerry-adams-sinn-fein-president-tweets-n-word/ |archive-date=4 May 2016 |access-date=16 May 2016 |website=The Washington Times}}{{Cite web |last=Bailey |first=Issac |date=2 May 2016 |title=Facing the consequences of using the N-word |url=http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/02/opinions/n-word-double-standard-debate-bailey/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160511233651/http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/02/opinions/n-word-double-standard-debate-bailey/index.html |archive-date=11 May 2016 |access-date=16 May 2016 |website=CNN}}{{Cite web |title=Adams Apologises For Using 'N-Word' In Tweet |url=http://news.sky.com/story/1688589/adams-apologises-for-using-n-word-in-tweet |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505095258/http://news.sky.com/story/1688589/adams-apologises-for-using-n-word-in-tweet |archive-date=5 May 2016 |access-date=16 May 2016 |website=Sky News |language=en-GB}} and Adams deleted it and apologised.{{Cite web |date=2 May 2016 |title=Adams admits N-word tweet 'was inappropriate' |url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2016/0502/785601-gerry-adams-tweet/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505063209/http://www.rte.ie/news/2016/0502/785601-gerry-adams-tweet/ |archive-date=5 May 2016 |access-date=16 May 2016 |website=RTÉ.ie}}

Adams has been portrayed in a number of films, TV series, and books:

• 1999 – The Marching Season, a spy fiction novel by Daniel Silva.
• 2004 – film Omagh, with actor Jonathan Ryan, a dramatisation of the 1998 Omagh bombing and its aftermath.
• 2010 – TV film Mo, with actor John Lynch, the story of Mo Mowlam and the Good Friday Agreement.
• 2012 – The Cold Cold Ground, a crime novel by Adrian McKinty; Adams is interviewed by the book's main character after an associate is found murdered.
• 2016 – film The Journey, with actor Ian Beattie.{{Cite news |date=29 July 2016 |title=It's all eyes on the 73rd Venice Film Festival |url=http://www.breakingnews.ie/showbiz/its-all-eyes-on-the-73rd-venice-film-festival-747224.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107004403/http://www.breakingnews.ie/showbiz/its-all-eyes-on-the-73rd-venice-film-festival-747224.html |archive-date=7 November 2017 |access-date=6 November 2017 |work=Breaking News}}
• 2017 – film The Foreigner, with actor Pierce Brosnan playing a former IRA leader who resembles Adams.{{Cite news |title=Pierce Brosnan channels Gerry Adams in new IRA thriller The Foreigner |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/pierce-brosnan-channels-gerry-adams-in-new-ira-thriller-the-foreigner-1.3134256 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107005236/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/pierce-brosnan-channels-gerry-adams-in-new-ira-thriller-the-foreigner-1.3134256 |archive-date=7 November 2017 |access-date=6 November 2017 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en-US}}
• 2024 - TV series Say Nothing, with actors Josh Finan and Michael Colgan.{{cite web|url= https://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/film-tv/cast-revealed-for-tv-adaptation-of-book-about-troubles-and-jean-mcconville-disappearance/a2092277147.html|website=Belfast Telegraph|accessdate=11 November 2024|date=2 February 2024|title= Cast revealed for TV adaptation of book about Troubles and Jean McConville disappearance|first=Kurtis|last=Reid}} The series portrays Adams as being a senior IRA commander. Each episode contains an endnote stating "Gerry Adams has always denied being a member of the IRA or participating in any IRA-related violence."{{cite web|url=https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a62900939/say-nothing-true-story-explained/|title=Say Nothing: Who Were the Real Dolours and Marian Price?|publisher=Elle|author=Emma Fraser|date=15 November 2024|access-date=15 November 2024}}

• Falls Memories, 1982
• The Politics of Irish Freedom, 1986
• A Pathway to Peace, 1988
• An Irish Voice: The Quest for Peace
• Cage Eleven, 1990, Brandon Books, {{ISBN|978-0-86322-114-9}}
• The Street and Other Stories, 1993, Brandon Books, {{ISBN|978-0-86322-293-1}}
• Free Ireland: Towards a Lasting Peace, 1995
• Before the Dawn: An Autobiography, 1996, Brandon Books, {{ISBN|978-0-434-00341-9}}
• Selected Writings
• Who Fears to Speak...?, 2001 (Original Edition 1991), Beyond the Pale Publications, {{ISBN|978-1-900960-13-7}}
• An Irish Journal, 2001, Brandon Books, {{ISBN|978-0-86322-282-5}}
• Hope and History: Making Peace in Ireland, 2003, Brandon Books, {{ISBN|978-0-86322-330-3}}
• A Farther Shore, 2005, Random House
• The New Ireland: A Vision For The Future, 2005, Brandon Books, {{ISBN|978-0-86322-344-0}}
• An Irish Eye, 2007, Brandon Books, {{ISBN|978-0-86322-370-9}}
• My Little Book of Tweets, 2016, Mercier Press, {{ISBN|978-1-78117-449-4}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{Cite book |last1=McDonald |first1=Henry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HLufAAAAMAAJ&q=UDA+%E2%80%93+Inside+the+Heart+of+Loyalist+Terror |title=UDA: Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror |last2=Cusack |first2=Jim |publisher=Penguin Ireland |year=2004|isbn=978-1-84488-020-1 }}
• {{Cite book |last=Moloney |first=Ed |author-link=Ed Moloney |title=A Secret History of the IRA |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-14-101041-0 |page=38}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Sharrock |first1=David |title=Man of War, Man of Peace The Unauthorised Biography of Gerry Adams |last2=Devenport |first2=Mark |date=1997 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-330-35396-0 |location=London |pages=155 |language=en}}
• {{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Taylor (Journalist) |title=Provos The IRA & Sinn Féin |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-7475-3818-9 |page=140}}

• {{Cite web |last=de Bréadún |first=Deaglán |author-link=Deaglán de Bréadún |date=22 January 2018 |title=Gerry Adams – the face of Irish republicanism – hands over at Sinn Féin |url=https://www.wikitribune.com/story/2018/01/22/ireland/gerry-adams-the-face-of-irish-nationalism-hands-over-at-sinn-fein/40230/ |website=WikiTribune}}
• {{Cite book |last=Keena |first=Colm |title=Biography of Gerry Adams |publisher=Mercier Press |year=1990 |location=Cork}}
• {{Cite book |last=Keefe |first=Patrick Radden |title=Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland |publisher=Doubleday New York |year=2019}}
• {{Cite book |last=Randolph |first=Jody Allen |title=Close to the Next Moment: Interviews from a Changing Ireland |publisher=Carcanet |year=2010 |isbn=9781847770486 |location=Manchester |chapter=Gerry Adams, August 2009}}

{{Commons category|Gerry Adams}}

{{Wikiquote}}

• {{twitter}}
• [http://leargas.blogspot.com/ Léargas] blog by Gerry Adams
• [https://www.theguardian.com/profile/gerry-adams Column archive] at The Guardian
• [http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/20204 Gerry Adams] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150523065141/http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/20204 |date=23 May 2015 }} Sinn Féin profile

{{UK MP links|parliament=|hansard=|hansardcurr=|guardian=17/gerry-adams|publicwhip=|theywork=gerry_adams|record=Gerry-Adams/Belfast-West/1|bbc=25791.stm|journalisted=gerry-adams}}

• {{IMDb name|1128049}}
• {{C-SPAN|34226}}
• {{Guardian topic}}
• {{New York Times topic|people/a/gerry_adams}}
• [http://indiamond6.ulib.iupui.edu:81/am11115g.html Gerry Adams Man Of War and Man Of Peace?] Anthony McIntyre, The Blanket, 28 April 2004
• [http://www.lesenfantsterribles.org/distretto-nord/interview-with-gerry-adams/ Interview with Gerry Adams] February 2006
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100527040104/http://yourdemocracy.newstatesman.com/profile/gerry-adams Gerry Adams Profile] at New Statesman

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{{2010 United Kingdom general election}}

{{Louth (Dáil constituency)/TDs}}

{{Sinn Féin}}

{{PIRA}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Gerry}}

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