Key Reads<\/p>\n
Ellen O\u2019Riordan – 1 hour ago<\/p>\n
Adams has left the witness box after being cross-examined for nearly two days in London\u2019s high court. Neither the judge nor his legal team had any further questions to ask him. <\/p>\n
Adams\u2019s legal team have said that marks the end of the defence\u2019s case, which should pave the way for the start of barristers\u2019 closing submissions.<\/p>\n
Ellen O\u2019Riordan – 2 hours ago<\/p>\n
Hill, barrister for the three claimants, asks Adams about Des Long, a former IRA man who, Adams says, was for a time on the Sinn F\u00e9in Ard Chomhairle (national executive).<\/p>\n
Adams says Long became \u201canti peace process\u201d and \u201cbitter\u201d. <\/p>\n
Hill says Long admitted to being part of the IRA Army Council and claimed Adams was a senior member of such.<\/p>\n
Adams replies: \u201cWhatever he is telling about himself, he is telling all untruths about me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hills suggests Long was placing Adams \u201caccurately\u201d as a leader of the Army Council.<\/p>\n
Adams: \u201cWell, you are wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ellen O\u2019Riordan – 2 hours ago<\/p>\n
![\"Then](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/4L55WQHYTBPBFMBC2LONQKLX5M.jpg\")
Then t\u00e1naiste and minister for justice Michael McDowell, pictured in 2006. File photograph: Eric Luke <\/p>\n
Turning to 2005, Hill, barrister for the three IRA bomb victims, says Michael McDowell, then Irish minister for justice, was \u201cvery clear\u201d that Adams was at that time Sinn F\u00e9in leader and on still on the IRA\u2019s Army Council.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, he is wrong,\u201d Adams responds.<\/p>\n
Is Adams suggesting McDowell \u201cmade that up\u201d, Hill asks.<\/p>\n
Whether he made it up or was repeating a line given to him, Adams says he is not sure. He adds that McDowell is a \u201cknown critic\u201d of Sinn F\u00e9in.<\/p>\n
Ellen O\u2019Riordan – 2 hours ago<\/p>\n
Hill suggests Adams surrounded himself even into the 2000s with IRA men, including those convicted of murder.<\/p>\n
Adams says: \u201cWell, yes. There were others who were not former prisoners.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ellen O\u2019Riordan – 2 hours ago<\/p>\n
Hill asks Adams about a claim by Peter Rogers, an IRA gunman who served 18 years of a life sentence for murder of Garda Seamus Quaid in Co Wexford in 1980.<\/p>\n
Hill says Rogers alleged he met with Adams and Martin McGuinness, a high-ranking IRA leader before becoming Sinn F\u00e9in deputy first minister of Northern Ireland, in late 1980 to discuss the transportation of explosives to England.<\/p>\n
Rogers claimed Adams questioned him near Trinity College in Dublin about the delay in transporting the devices, says Hill. Rogers allegedly told Adams the explosives were in poor condition, to which Adams said they needed to be transferred and the sooner they were the better.<\/p>\n
Hill asks Adams is this true or near the truth.<\/p>\n
It is a \u201ctotal fabrication\u201d, Adams replies.<\/p>\n
Adams says he did not know Rogers as an IRA volunteer but knew his family. He says he agitated for his release from prison as part of the Belfast Agreement. This, Adams says, was \u201ccontroversial\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ellen O\u2019Riordan – 3 hours ago<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/HJBHPATHNWPE3MOU6PCGRCD4FA.jpg\")
A file photograph from May 1972 of prominent Republican and former IRA member Dolours Price. Photograph: PA\/PA Wire <\/p>\n
Adams denies claims made by Dolours Price, one of the people convicted for her role in the Old Bailey bombing of 1973. This explosion, which was the first Provisional IRA bombing in Britain, is one of three at the centre of the court case. <\/p>\n
One of the claimants, John Clark, was injured when he responded as a police officer to a warning that a bomb was due to detonate outside the court at 3pm. The device exploded at 2.50pm, and shrapnel lodged in Clark\u2019s head and hand.<\/p>\n
In her later years, Price claimed the idea of the Old Bailey bombing was discussed at a meeting involving Adams and several IRA volunteers. Hill, barrister for Clark and the other two plaintiffs, says Price alleged Adams \u201cextended an invitation to those who wished to stay in the room and become the bombing team\u201d.<\/p>\n
Adams says this is \u201cnot true\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ellen O\u2019Riordan – 3 hours ago<\/p>\n
If you are just joining, former Sinn F\u00e9in leader Gerry Adams continues to be questioned in the witness box in London\u2019s High Court. <\/p>\n
He is defending himself against a claim brought by three victims of IRA bombs in Britain in 1973 an 1992. The three allege he was \u201cso intrinsically involved\u201d in the IRA that he is \u201cas culpable for the assault \u2026 as the individuals who planted and detonated the bombs\u201d.<\/p>\n
Adams denies any involvement in the bombings and has repeatedly denied he was ever in the IRA or on its Army Council.<\/p>\n
So far on Wednesday, Max Hill, barrister for the claimants, has questioned Adams about his associations with Brendan Hughes and other IRA men. Adams says he and Hughes were friends but the late IRA officer commanding ended up a \u201cdisappointment\u201d. <\/p>\n
Adams was questioned about his prior knowledge of the 1996 London Docklands bombing, which killed two and injured many others, including one of the claimants. Adams said he did not know about it ahead of time and was \u201cstunned\u201d when it occurred. It could have \u201cheralded the end of efforts\u201d for peace he was part of for decades, but thankfully it did not, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou made a decision to bomb again,\u201d counsel told him<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not true,\u201d Adams responded.<\/p>\n
He is due to resume his evidence, under cross-examination, at 2.05pm.<\/p>\n
Ellen O\u2019Riordan – 4 hours ago<\/p>\n
The court has paused for lunch and will resume at 2.05pm. Adams was warned not to discuss the case with anyone over lunch as he is still under cross-examination by barrister for the claimants, Max Hill.<\/p>\n
Ellen O\u2019Riordan – 4 hours ago<\/p>\n
Still questioning Adams about the 1996 London Docklands bombing, Hill suggests he was behind it to bolster his political strategy. \u201cYou made a decision to bomb again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adams says: \u201cThat\u2019s not true.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hill: \u201cYou were bombing your way into the conference room.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adams: \u201cNo, that is not true.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ellen O\u2019Riordan – 4 hours ago<\/p>\n
![\"Debris](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/4A5FH63MORIGOVIZJJXZ3TERHM.jpg\")
Debris lays strewn across the scene of the IRA bomb blast in London’s Docklands in 1996. File photograph: PA Adams \u2018stunned\u2019 by 1996 London Dockland bombing, which could have undermined peace efforts<\/p>\n
Adams is asked about an IRA bombing in London on February 9th, 1996. <\/p>\n
One of the claimants, Jonathan Ganesh, was working as a security guard at South Quay Docklands, outside Canary Wharf in London, when the bomb detonated, killing two and injuring many others.<\/p>\n
Adams says the 1996 explosions \u201cbrought an end to the IRA ceasefire and potentially the end to a peace strategy, which I and others worked at for 30 years or more\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was stunned by what had happened,\u201d he says. \u201cThis may well have heralded the end of efforts that were being made but, thankfully, it didn\u2019t. We were resilient, we regrouped and engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hill, barrister for Ganesh and two other IRA bomb victims, asks: \u201cDid you know in advance about the Canary Wharf explosion?\u201d<\/p>\n
Adams says he did not.<\/p>\n
Ellen O\u2019Riordan – 4 hours ago<\/p>\n
History \u2018vindicates\u2019 Adams\u2019s 1994 position, he tells court<\/p>\n
Hill questions Adams about his response to the December 1993 Downing Street Declaration issued jointly by the British and Irish governments. <\/p>\n
The declaration said Britain had no \u201cselfish, strategic or economic interest\u201d in Northern Ireland and supported self-determination based on consent.<\/p>\n
Hill says Adams interpreted, in January 1994, that the declaration claimed to remove the IRA\u2019s reasons for armed struggle but \u201cwhether this is so remains to be seen\u201d. <\/p>\n
Adams tells Hill: \u201cYeah, well, that is the truth of it\u201d. <\/p>\n
Hill puts it to him that he was \u201cnot yet prepared to make any declaration about armed struggle being at an end\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou still needed or wanted to hold the armed struggle over the British.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adams responds: \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
The declaration did not deal with four issues that needed addressing and that went on to be addressed by the Belfast Agreement, says Adams. In 1993 John Major\u2019s British government was still refusing to talk to Sinn F\u00e9in representatives, he adds.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is my position and I think it is straightforward, and I think history vindicates that position.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ellen O\u2019Riordan – 4 hours ago<\/p>\n
Adams speaks about \u201cfolks (who) resiled against the peace process\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe proof, if I may say so, is that none of what they were doing succeeded. None of what they were doing worked. It was only when we got down to treating each other as human beings … that we made progress,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Ellen O\u2019Riordan – 5 hours ago<\/p>\n
Adams is questioned about Sinn F\u00e9in politicians Gerry Kelly, who is a convicted IRA bomber and Assembly member for North Belfast; Conor Murphy, who was convicted of IRA membership and carrying explosives in 1982 and was an MP for Newry and Armagh; and Martin Ferris, who was convicted for IRA membership and a TD for North Kerry.<\/p>\n
Adams says he is \u201cproud\u201d of his relationship with these people. He knows Ferris well and has \u201cgreat admiration for him\u201d, while Kelly was convicted as a \u201cyoung man\u201d.<\/p>\n
Adams says he does not keep a record of everyone\u2019s convictions, but there are \u201cclearly people within Sinn F\u00e9in, who are welcome within Sinn F\u00e9in, who are former prisoners … during the armed struggle\u201d. It is \u201cnot a secret\u201d that such people serve within the ranks of Sinn F\u00e9in, he says.<\/p>\n
This is not new and \u201call arises from the fact our country was occupied\u201d by the British army, he says.<\/p>\n
To Hill, barrister for the three IRA bomb victims, Adams says: \u201cIf your country was invaded, perhaps you might respond in the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ellen O\u2019Riordan – 5 hours ago<\/p>\n
Many of the claims made about Adams by Hughes and other republican paramiliatries come from interviews conducted as part of the Belfast Project, organised by Ed Moloney, for Boston College.<\/p>\n
The ex-paramilitaries gave interviews under the guarantee that nothing would be published until after they had died, which led to a book by Moloney in 2010, Voices From The Grave. However, there were flaws with this guarantee as confidentiality could only be protected to the extent American law allows.<\/p>\n
Cross-examined on some of Hughes\u2019s Boston College interviews, Adams says the Belfast Project has been \u201ctotally discredited\u201d, disowned by the college and criticised by courts.<\/p>\n
Ellen O\u2019Riordan – 5 hours ago<\/p>\n
Hill suggests Adams was a \u201cmajor major player\u201d in the war.<\/p>\n
Responding, Adams says he was the president of Sinn F\u00e9in for 35 years and was involved in the \u201cstruggle\u201d, \u201cdefended the use of armed struggle where I thought that was appropriate\u201d, and helped to build Sinn F\u00e9in and peace. This, he says, led to Hughes and others \u201cquite wrongly taking up the positions they did\u201d. <\/p>\n
Hughes and some other IRA figures were against the peace process.<\/p>\n
Adams says he does not \u201cgo around boasting\u201d, but he does not deny he was a person and a republican \u201cof some influence\u201d. \u201cThankfully\u201d peace was brought about and people today are enjoying peace, he adds.<\/p>\n
Ellen O\u2019Riordan – 6 hours ago<\/p>\n
Adams says Bloody Friday \u2018hung around my neck\u2019<\/p>\n
Hill quotes from Hughes saying he came to believe \u201cnot one death was worth it\u201d. Hill says Hughes was \u201cmaddened\u201d by Adams seeming to be \u201cfree of any such painful retrospection\u201d about the Troubles. <\/p>\n
Counsel quotes Hughes as having said about Adams: \u201cOf course he was in the IRA. Everybody knows this. The British know it; the people in the street and the dogs know it on the street, and he (Adams) is standing there denying it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hill puts it to Adams that he is \u201cin denial\u201d about his role in the IRA.<\/p>\n
Adams rejects this suggestion and says Hughes\u2019s words, if correctly quoted, demonstrate his state of mind. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll of these things, like Bloody Friday, are hung around my neck and have been done incessently.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bloody Friday is the name given to bombings by the Provisional IRA in Belfast July 21st, 1972. Five men, two women and two children were killed when 22 bombs were detonated within 80 minutes.<\/p>\n
Ellen O\u2019Riordan – 6 hours ago<\/p>\n
![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/EFV4HL3HG3NY4P3D446TKU52WM.jpg\")
Former IRA man Brendan Hughes (right) in Long Kesh prison with Gerry Adams. Hughes featured in the oral history project. Photograph: Alan Lewis\/Photopress IRA man Brendan Hughes like a brother, but then a \u2018disappointment\u2019, says Adams<\/p>\n
Adams denies his friendship with Hughes was \u201clife long\u201d as, he says, Hughes was, disappointingly, against the peace process. Adams confirms he was by Hughes\u2019s side when he died in 2008.<\/p>\n
Hughes on several occasions said \u201cI should be shot\u201d and was quoted as saying he would \u201cshoot me himself\u201d, says Adams, adding that he views that in the context of what Hughes went through in prison, particularly in the H-blocks and the hunger strikes.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe ended up as a very sorry figure: alcohol dependent, but I still retain a fondness for him even though he should not have done what he did and he is a disappointment in what he did. He was also a victim of what was happening in our country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ellen O\u2019Riordan – 6 hours ago<\/p>\n
![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/RFJZLUUNHLRLV26M3YHCRP5FNM.jpg\")
Former Sinn F\u00e9in leader Gerry Adams arrives at the Royal Courts of Justice during civil proceedings on Wednesday. Photograph: Carl Court\/Getty Images <\/p>\n
Adams is back in the witness box and is being questioned about a photograph of him and the late Brendan Hughes in Long Kesh prison, which Adams thinks was taken in 1973. Hughes was a hunger striker and officer commanding of the IRA.<\/p>\n
Max Hill, barrister for the three claimants, asks Adams if he was \u201clike a brother to him and he to you\u201d?<\/p>\n
Adams says: \u201cYes, we were very good friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hill: \u201cYou were fellow IRA operatives and IRA volunteers, do you accept that?\u201d<\/p>\n
Adams: \u201cNo, I don\u2019t. That is not true.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ellen O\u2019Riordan – 6 hours ago<\/p>\n
It is the seventh day of the civil trial brought by three IRA bombing victims against former Sinn F\u00e9in leader Gerry Adams. <\/p>\n
Adams is due to resume his evidence to the court, under cross examination, at about 10.30am.<\/p>\n
A quick recap of his evidence on Tuesday:<\/p>\n
Adams \u201ccategorically\u201d denied having any involvement in the three bombings around which the legal claims are centred.<\/p>\n
He said he was never a member of the IRA or its Army Council and was never a \u201csenior, let alone most senior figure\u201d, in the organisation.<\/p>\n
It was put to Adams that he \u201cstands by\u201d the IRA. Adams said: \u201cWell I don\u2019t stand by everything that they did, but these were my neighbours.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m glad the IRA has left the State … that they are not killing … I\u2019m glad there is a peace process, but I don\u2019t distance myself from the IRA.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Main Points Former Sinn F\u00e9in leader Gerry Adams testified for the second day today at the Royal Courts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":834428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[39680,34129,12,11528,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-834427","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-gerry-adams","10":"tag-irish-republican-army","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-sinn-fein","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116251330716571251","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=834427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/834428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=834427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=834427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=834427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}