Guest writer Gerard Hodgins with a piece asking questions of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams in relation to allegations of covering up rape. Mr Hodgins is a forner blanket man who took part in the 1981 Long Kesh hunger strike.

The Bishop of Louth
Gerry Adams is man very much in the public eye; he leads a political party in Ireland and was once the leader of The Republican Movement. He is a consummate politician who can play the media to his tune while evading and reinventing events to his interpretation. And when the media scrutiny gets too close to the bone he invokes the prerogatives of “private family affair” and “disgruntled opponents of the peace process”.

A private family affair is just that and none should ever intrude publically into a private family affair, leaving it to the family to sort. When a cynical manipulator of the media chooses to milk a private family tragedy for a political end then that act is deserving of comment and questions.

In the first instance it has to be noted that when a report of child abuse was made to the RUC in 1987 the abuse allegation was overlooked for a leverage opening on the then leader of the republican movement. The child was abandoned by the very institutions of the state set up to safeguard and protect vulnerable children. That abandonment and indifference towards the plight of the child was compounded by its abandonment by the one uncle who could have made a difference.

In the aftermath of the Liam Adams trial and with the availability of documents and court records to give a deeper understanding of what precisely happened we are undoubtedly grateful that we live in the internet age when information is accessible pretty quickly before somebody dresses it up and presents it to us as something more akin to propaganda than fact.

The raw fact that Gerry contacted the Social Services the day after confronting Liam in Buncrana to complain that Aine was living in a dirty house and had nits rather than reporting her vulnerability to an abusive parent speaks volumes for the concern Gerry the man had towards Aine the child.

Further he only broke for cover when he discovered that Chris Moore was doing a documentary for UTV which would raise disturbing questions about his role in the saga. Having assessed the immediate impact of that documentary to be inimical to Big Gerry, he and his advisors called in Tommie Gorman from RTE a couple of days later when Gerry hung his own father out to hang in that infamous interview – which was designed to further cloudy the waters, engender sympathy for poor oul Gerry and stop people asking awkward questions.

The questions didn’t stop though and when Suzanne Breen forensically dissected Gerry’s whole account for The Sunday Tribune she exposed lie upon lie, deceit upon deceit in Gerry’s accounts.

Not that many took notice, why let little things like facts get in the way of a good counter-revolution with electoral and financial gains still to be made -- such facts can be dismissed as the moaning of disgruntled opponents of the peace process.

But they came back again in crystallised form when a jury in Belfast found Liam Adams guilty of his crimes. And the reaction again from the Sinn Fein spin machine was to shoot the messengers. Journalists who covered the story are denigrated as lacking credibility and bona fides: it’s all a personal witch-hunt against Big Gerry; it’s the Brits; it’s the securocrats.

But the most deafening silence has been the silence of absolutely nobody from within Sinn Fein asking a question. When the Catholic Church was being excoriated (and rightly so) for their proven institutional failures in relation to child protection and cover-ups of paedophile priests, Sinn Fein were out in front of the political posse biting at the heels of Cardinal Brady and his Bishops calling for resignations and no hiding place for people who turn their backs on children in such conditions.

I don’t believe Sinn Fein internally though is such a united front around the Dear Leader who everybody loves and reveres; party strategists have to be considering the negative dynamics of going into elections with the stench of sexual abuse hanging over the party. Adams is clearly no longer the magical negotiator who could sell pork to the Arabs never mind sand, his cross examination exposed him as a faltering and unconvincing witness, more a liability than an asset hence his non-recall at the second trial.

Dismissing criticism of Gerry Adams as the outworking of opponents of the peace process is a cynical manipulation of the discursive format, It is not anti-peace to question the motivations and wisdom of a leader, it is not anti-peace to call out a snake oil-salesman on his inconsistencies and evasions. As republicans committed to a republic which cherishes all of the children equally we are obligated to raise voices of concern over the abandonment of a child and the subsequent media pantomime to present the unsavoury details in a manner favourable to Big Gerry the victim .....

Gerry lives in two worlds, he has told us so in his book “A Farther Shore”, there is the fictional happy ending world where we swallow his version of history/events and then there is the other world, the world of truth and reality which we are not yet mature enough to handle. Referring to the hunger strike Adams comments:
“A happy ending, finally, eventually, it seems to me is more important than a tell-all story now.”
Like the hunger strike, his handling of sexual abuse allegations against a child leaves a lot more questions to be answered than clarity. There are no happy endings though: six men died unnecessarily in 1981 to get Adams into a lucrative lifestyle which has seen the poor boy from Ballymurphy move up the social ladder; abandoned child victims don’t have happy endings, the memories never leave them. Then there is the matter of our patriot dead who died believing we were in this for the long haul while Gerry was secretly negotiating behind our backs to bring the war to a close. No happy endings......

We must continue to question though, to be silent is to be acquiescent. As republicans who once believed in and followed Gerry Adams we have every right to ask questions and demand full disclosure of all the secret dealings of the leadership of the Provisional high command. We deserve this and we earned the right to demand it when we stood against the British and endured all that they threw at us. It is time for the tell-all story now.



Our revenge will be the laughter of our children....

Guest writer Gerard Hodgins with a piece asking questions of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams in relation to allegations of covering up rape. Mr Hodgins is a forner blanket man who took part in the 1981 Long Kesh hunger strike.

The Bishop of Louth
Gerry Adams is man very much in the public eye; he leads a political party in Ireland and was once the leader of The Republican Movement. He is a consummate politician who can play the media to his tune while evading and reinventing events to his interpretation. And when the media scrutiny gets too close to the bone he invokes the prerogatives of “private family affair” and “disgruntled opponents of the peace process”.

A private family affair is just that and none should ever intrude publically into a private family affair, leaving it to the family to sort. When a cynical manipulator of the media chooses to milk a private family tragedy for a political end then that act is deserving of comment and questions.

In the first instance it has to be noted that when a report of child abuse was made to the RUC in 1987 the abuse allegation was overlooked for a leverage opening on the then leader of the republican movement. The child was abandoned by the very institutions of the state set up to safeguard and protect vulnerable children. That abandonment and indifference towards the plight of the child was compounded by its abandonment by the one uncle who could have made a difference.

In the aftermath of the Liam Adams trial and with the availability of documents and court records to give a deeper understanding of what precisely happened we are undoubtedly grateful that we live in the internet age when information is accessible pretty quickly before somebody dresses it up and presents it to us as something more akin to propaganda than fact.

The raw fact that Gerry contacted the Social Services the day after confronting Liam in Buncrana to complain that Aine was living in a dirty house and had nits rather than reporting her vulnerability to an abusive parent speaks volumes for the concern Gerry the man had towards Aine the child.

Further he only broke for cover when he discovered that Chris Moore was doing a documentary for UTV which would raise disturbing questions about his role in the saga. Having assessed the immediate impact of that documentary to be inimical to Big Gerry, he and his advisors called in Tommie Gorman from RTE a couple of days later when Gerry hung his own father out to hang in that infamous interview – which was designed to further cloudy the waters, engender sympathy for poor oul Gerry and stop people asking awkward questions.

The questions didn’t stop though and when Suzanne Breen forensically dissected Gerry’s whole account for The Sunday Tribune she exposed lie upon lie, deceit upon deceit in Gerry’s accounts.

Not that many took notice, why let little things like facts get in the way of a good counter-revolution with electoral and financial gains still to be made -- such facts can be dismissed as the moaning of disgruntled opponents of the peace process.

But they came back again in crystallised form when a jury in Belfast found Liam Adams guilty of his crimes. And the reaction again from the Sinn Fein spin machine was to shoot the messengers. Journalists who covered the story are denigrated as lacking credibility and bona fides: it’s all a personal witch-hunt against Big Gerry; it’s the Brits; it’s the securocrats.

But the most deafening silence has been the silence of absolutely nobody from within Sinn Fein asking a question. When the Catholic Church was being excoriated (and rightly so) for their proven institutional failures in relation to child protection and cover-ups of paedophile priests, Sinn Fein were out in front of the political posse biting at the heels of Cardinal Brady and his Bishops calling for resignations and no hiding place for people who turn their backs on children in such conditions.

I don’t believe Sinn Fein internally though is such a united front around the Dear Leader who everybody loves and reveres; party strategists have to be considering the negative dynamics of going into elections with the stench of sexual abuse hanging over the party. Adams is clearly no longer the magical negotiator who could sell pork to the Arabs never mind sand, his cross examination exposed him as a faltering and unconvincing witness, more a liability than an asset hence his non-recall at the second trial.

Dismissing criticism of Gerry Adams as the outworking of opponents of the peace process is a cynical manipulation of the discursive format, It is not anti-peace to question the motivations and wisdom of a leader, it is not anti-peace to call out a snake oil-salesman on his inconsistencies and evasions. As republicans committed to a republic which cherishes all of the children equally we are obligated to raise voices of concern over the abandonment of a child and the subsequent media pantomime to present the unsavoury details in a manner favourable to Big Gerry the victim .....

Gerry lives in two worlds, he has told us so in his book “A Farther Shore”, there is the fictional happy ending world where we swallow his version of history/events and then there is the other world, the world of truth and reality which we are not yet mature enough to handle. Referring to the hunger strike Adams comments:
“A happy ending, finally, eventually, it seems to me is more important than a tell-all story now.”
Like the hunger strike, his handling of sexual abuse allegations against a child leaves a lot more questions to be answered than clarity. There are no happy endings though: six men died unnecessarily in 1981 to get Adams into a lucrative lifestyle which has seen the poor boy from Ballymurphy move up the social ladder; abandoned child victims don’t have happy endings, the memories never leave them. Then there is the matter of our patriot dead who died believing we were in this for the long haul while Gerry was secretly negotiating behind our backs to bring the war to a close. No happy endings......

We must continue to question though, to be silent is to be acquiescent. As republicans who once believed in and followed Gerry Adams we have every right to ask questions and demand full disclosure of all the secret dealings of the leadership of the Provisional high command. We deserve this and we earned the right to demand it when we stood against the British and endured all that they threw at us. It is time for the tell-all story now.



54 comments:

  1. This article is all the more powerful due to the honesty and courage that come across so clearly from the author. Thanks for writing it, Gerard.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gerard says "Adams was once the leader of the republican movement " he is still the "leader " Gerard no longer the republican movement of the struggle but a quisling infested party of ego,s and carpetbaggers,so its no wonder the party faithful are prepared to remain silent in this affair, or like Mickeybroy engage in distraction.when the party members kept quiet in the face of the overwhelming evidence that the great bearded one Gerry Itwasntme allowed six brave men die needless and horrific deaths just to forward his and his cronies political ambitions is surely a clear indicator that this man has control of a party that can only be described as nothing more that a flock of groupies with one eye on their jobs or potential personnel advancement,this great leader buried his father with all the trappings of a republican funeral,even though by his own admission he knew that his father was a fucking pervert,he dragged the republican movement into the bog along with the disappeared on that day, and he has been burying it ever since ,the party members are up to their necks in shit and drinking tea, what they dont realise is soon someone is going to pop up and say "right folks tea break over down on your hands and knees " .

    ReplyDelete
  3. Greetings from BADcock!!

    nope not a message from Liam Adams just a wee message from Thailand to say that was another very good read.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Heard him on Today FM this morning, complaining that the Health Minister had no credibility and couldn't be taken seriously. The whole thing is like water of a duck's back to the man

    ReplyDelete
  5. Fantastic read. Very well put together, practically sums up my thinking about the man.

    His self interest, manipulation and general deceit, practically knows no limits as he simply does not care what people think of him. He simply couldn't. I suppose this is why he finds and then loses God and religion from time to time to suit himself and the actions he takes. Talk about an underactive conscious, he certainly is basing his life on Niccolò Machiavelli and his masterpiece “the dark prince”.

    The book contains a number of maxims concerning politics, but rather than the more traditional subject of a hereditary prince. To retain power, the hereditary prince must carefully maintain the sociopolitical institutions to which the people are accustomed; he asserted that social benefits of stability and security could be achieved in the face of moral corruption. As a result, a ruler must be concerned not only with reputation, but also must be positively willing to act immorally at the right times. As a political scientist, Machiavelli emphasized the occasional need for the methodical exercise of brute force or deceit.

    Scholars often note that Machiavelli glorifies instrumentality in statebuilding—an approach embodied by the saying that "the ends justify the means". Violence may be necessary for the successful stabilization of power and introduction of new legal institutions.

    Force may be used to eliminate political rivals, to coerce resistant populations, and to purge the community of other men strong enough of character to rule, who will inevitably attempt to replace the ruler.

    Does this look familar?
    Machiavelli died in 1527 at the age of 58. He was buried at the Church of Santa Croce in Florence, Italy. An epitaph honoring him is inscribed on his monument. The Latin legend reads: TANTO NOMINI NULLUM PAR ELOGIUM "so great a name has no adequate praise" or "no eulogy would be appropriate to such a great name".

    I wonder is this what Gerry is working towards, I ponder on what latin will be inscribed on his stone?

    ReplyDelete
  6. "Heard him on Today FM this morning, complaining that the Health Minister had no credibility and couldn't be taken seriously."

    A projection if I ever heard one Sean. It's Adams who has no credibility, who can no longer be taken seriously, and who lost credibility a lifetime ago as far as I am concerned!

    Just another Norn Iron FreeStater in my book.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The only shame is to have none.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Gerard:

    Great piece, Honest and truthful, also to the point.

    Adams has always been an habitual liar , Talking to the Brits whilst men were dying , Hunger strikers included , and , all that to him was like water of a ducks back.
    He is a very evil and devious person , and , if he wanted , he could get anyone topped and just blame it on Enemies of the peace process , he will do anything to cling to power.

    ReplyDelete
  9. From Michaelhenry


    Gerard-

    " When Suzanne Breen forensically
    dissected Gerry's whole account for the Sunday Tribune "

    But she ran that paper into the ground with XXXX whilst being its
    northern editor - that sunday newspaper no longer exists and you want/need to quote from a failed editor and a failed journalist-at least quote someone who can do their job right-

    ReplyDelete
  10. A powerful, insightful, honest piece. Written with a clarity that can leave no room for excuse or ambivalence.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Dont know about water of a ducks back Sean a cara ,but he is the only one in the family to have a lazer shone up his arse,(privately of course)the others to make do with the da,s todger ...

    ReplyDelete
  12. michael heny comrade,

    how about{
    Judge Corinne Philpott

    she appears to agree with a failed journalist.

    ReplyDelete
  13. "This was a family tragedy"... Adams absurd attempt at an excuse.

    The member of that family, Aine, who was raped and abused by her father; Gerry's brother, didn't count as part of that family in all the years she fought for justice.

    This wasn't a family tragedy it was a political leader looking out for his brother no matter what he did.

    Aine only became part of that family when it suited Gerry Adams and was then cast aside like something which was no longer useful.

    ReplyDelete
  14. A very well presented piece Gerard which is going viral in terms of being read. Good on you for stating an opinion SF don't want vented.

    ReplyDelete
  15. The latest comment from michaelhenry I'm certain, leaves us gasping at the sheer stupidity of someone who sits, supposedly, on Cookstown council.

    Someone who spends time online all day talking nonsense is a councilor? Sweet living fuck!!

    I'm afraid we must call a spade a spade and a gobshite a shinner when it comes to someone who doesn't care what he says when it comes to attacking people; especially those like Suzanne Breen who could wipe the floor intellectually with his likes.

    Come to think of it, it could be that michaelhenry is really only the office skivvy, mopping floors and making tea. And when councilor Michael McIvor goes out he gets on the laptop and starts to believe he really is an important shinner fighting the good fight...

    Talking shite!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anthony,

    The Bishop Of Louth or a Borgia Pope?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Gerard-

    Supporting Judge's next-

    Adams is still a free man/leader and it will take a lot more than a failed journalist to even scratch him-

    Dixie-

    " like Suzanne Breen who could wipe
    the floor intellectually with his likes "

    Have I touched a nerve-your hero misses being a editor-she was not good enough for that important position and shes left to sniff around for yarns-you should ring her up and throw her a few bones like you did for Ross Kemp-

    ReplyDelete
  18. Robert,

    one can never quite tell. The Borgia family might sue us for defamation.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Gerard,

    'I don’t believe Sinn Fein internally though is such a united front around the Dear Leader who everybody loves and reveres; party strategists have to be considering the negative dynamics of going into elections with the stench of sexual abuse hanging over the party.'

    Curious all the same that despite the 'Brilliant Comrade' being surrounded by a cadre of careerists we have not witnessed any of the jockeying that normally proceeds the wounding of a party leader. I wonder to what extent a cult of personality is driven by strategic considerations in the way you suggest? In the abscence of his prosecution for withholding information, his future, it appears, is more likely to be determined by the electorate than any internal 'Ides of March' and there is no doubting his chutzpah in standing for re election.

    ReplyDelete
  20. michaelhenry you're a clown and each time you post your childish nonsense you remind me that political idiots like Willie Frazer exist on our side of the divide as well.

    Only a sick bastard would repeatedly bring up someone's children when defending his party's stance on protecting paedophiles, you have repeatedly done this across various forums including the spy forum.ie.

    Its not surprising coming from someone on the lowest rung of a party which can stoop no lower.

    I'm surprised that Mackers continues to allow your likes on the Quill. Its OK standing up for a person's right to their opinion but when someone attacks children he has no right to an opinion.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Robert,

    whilst Caesar is busy defending his lands to the south his disciples in the north remind me of the headless horsemen.
    Their leader for life was quite compromising in his secret dealings with the British yet not so compromising in grooming a successor to his murky bloody throne.

    I just wonder how they will fair when their Caesar leaves his trail of destruction behind or indeed leaves his mortal coil as it appears there is no second in command. I just don’t see the headless horsemen as progressing any further than Adams has brought them which is a major failure on behalf of the party and party faithful.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I haven't been on here in a while. I think MichaelHenry/McIvor should be given the fool's pardon he deserves as he's obviously an illiterate Dickhead! Just ignore him (SF must be scraping the barrel when they let morons like him loose on blogs like this!). It beggars belief that no-one in SF has said a word about all this, the "deafening silence" that Gerard alluded to is staggering. I hope people remember next year before they put their mark on either the Euro or Council election sheets that Pat Sheehan and Pearse Doherty fully support the Great One! (Though I doubt it).

    ReplyDelete
  23. Tain Bo
    I don't think we can fathom why Sinn Fein have that undiluted loyalty to him.
    It's undoubtedly an unquestioning loyalty and it's one that must pose serious questions for Declan Kearney's 'genius think tank'

    When Aine's story first hit the headlines Adams pulled of quite an ingenious stroke. He managed even if it was only amongst his own followers to deflect sympathy from the victim
    to himself. The A/Town news hosted a three page spread of messages of sympathy and support dedicated to him.
    There is no doubt his family suffered greatly and should be accorded the same degree of sympathy and support given to anyone that endured what they must have suffered.
    But it didn't appear to be about them either it was all about him.

    It is always all about him. And that sense of it being all about him is now ingrained into the very fibre of Sinn Fein.

    Certain people in Sinn Fein had to have known about Liam.
    Adams despite his contempt for anyone who disagrees isn't an Island, therefore someone was treading the path of deceit and betrayal with him.

    ReplyDelete
  24. In the Irish news today, Adams said. "His niece had wanted her father to privately acknowledge and apologise for his actions". Why then did Aine go to the police in 1987?. There is something wrong with these time lines or my understanding of them. I am looking forward to reading any report, statement to be released by those looking into the matter.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Nuala,

    now that seems to have distilled it down to a very simple, lucid and comprehensible concept - All About Him. I have thought this for so long and that three word description just leaps out like 'Bingo'.

    This type of thing forces me back to wondering about the effect of ideas, if they reallly matter, or is what we say we think merely the product of powerful institutions and the discourses they spawn.

    What depth does an idea have if we can clain to kill in order to advance it, if we come to abandon it so easily merely because He Who It Is All About told us to?

    I guess this is one of my reasons for having grown throughly disillusioned with organised republicanism.

    While resolutely opposed to the armed actions of today's republicans, it seems to me that that at least they have beliefs.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Feel te love,

    I read the same and I have the same Q's in my head..Basically something doesn't add up. On a personal basis..if any of my nieces came to me and said 'Frankie, my father, your brother, raped me'...One of two things would happen..Either he would be in comma and I'd be in jail for putting him there or he'd be in jail..

    Kids are simply that kids..AKA innocent of all charges. Party politics doesn't even entre the equation.

    Gerry man up and grow a pair..You called it wrong on every level. And protected your brother for reason most pepole can't fathom why...........

    Putting aside the child abuse covered up by Gerry Adams. I doubt if anyone within the republican/nationalist side of the oxymornons (probably the PUL side too) feels anything but sorry for the PIRA members who fought & died..put thier lives on the line for a corrupt leadership.

    I've tried to imagine what it's like living in your your own shit for 5/6 years and I can't.

    I'm not even going to pretend I can. I probably would have been a 'squeaky boot'.

    ReplyDelete
  27. What baffled me (while reading the transcripts of the bearded one). I thought Eilis McDermott was leading up to asking the LIAR why he didn't go to Fr. Alex Reid about his brother working in Clonard youth club, as opposed to Fr. McGoran (who, of course, couldn't be called seeing that he was dead). At the start of her cross examination he agreed with her that he and Fr. Reid were/are very good friends. Nuala, it was always, still is and forever more will always be about the Dear Leader!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Belfastgit,

    an unfair point. You are not allowed to ask questions that are unhelpful to the peace process!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Nuala,

    you are spot on it is and has been always about the pliable leader who only becomes inflexible when dealing with his own community.
    The problem with his dictatorship being party policy is determined by a single mind.
    We are all moving up in years and to date I can’t pick a successor to his throne considering he is less than charismatic I sincerely doubt the party faithful will show such unrelenting support to whomever replaces such a weak mined leader.

    Without question others in that higher circle knew about his brother and would venture to say there would have been some who would have been content to end the miserable sack of shite’s life.
    Not that that would reverse the severe damage he caused his victim.
    The old slogan on the walls “The IRA call the shots.” Not in this case Gerry called it and decided it was better to protect a sick individual.
    He probably worried about headlines then if the RA had stiffed his brother and how badly that would reflect on his leadership.
    The reality most people would have read the story and thought nothing of it apart from the young victim wouldn’t have to live in fear of this man again.

    Sadly to a greater extent it still is all about poor Gerry the great man who promised peace and a quick walk into a united Ireland refused to help an innocent child and still the faithful turn a blind eye.

    Whilst I hope his brother rots and suffers in jail I can only hope his victim finds some peace and happiness. Betrayal is a terrible thing betrayal by family is unforgiveable.
    But as you rightly say it is not about people it’s all about the dysfunctional leader.

    ReplyDelete
  30. There was also a report of big G not knowing the first name of the priest he talked to about the unclean one. Hssss. lol

    ReplyDelete
  31. Mackers,
    A lot of people who know Adams in a lot of very different setting say it always has to be what he says, what he thinks, what he does, what he wants, always about him. All roads lead to and from him.

    What's the point of having a think tank 'genius' or otherwise when the only thought that counts is his?

    Tain Bo
    People used to say years ago he came to meeting late anything he attended he ensured he was one of the last to arrive, he even turned up at Republican funerals late, to ensure he would be seen arriving by everyone.

    He believed he was and is infallible so much so that anyone who ventured to challenge him in relation to anything got a short shift.

    What's so incredible is this man who does not appear to have one shred of loyalty to anyone can command so much himself.
    People have been stepped over and stepped on to make room for him and there is no sign of his political demise in sight.

    Belfast git
    Some have and will continue to sell their souls for him that's how bad it is and remains.
    The Blackie Centre is an interesting one because Liam would have been applying for a job in front of a Sinn Fein panel.
    Sinn Fein run that group as they do all those groups which is why they have remained so silent.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Nuala,

    in his case he prefers to be feared than loved but even he knows tides turn.
    I don’t know what keeps him at the helm but it certainly isn’t his sense of direction.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Adams is no fool, he must know that one day, likely after he is dead; hopefully beforehand, that all his dirty deeds will be exposed to the world.

    From the secret burial of a mother to letting men die for an election result, to watching volunteers die for a cause he had already sold out, to covering up paedophilia and rape within RPM.

    It must play on his mind as it must play on the mind of McGuinness.

    History awaits...

    ReplyDelete
  34. Dixie,

    it also says something about the nature of society that someone so transparently malign and self serving can succeed. I guess it provides insight into how the Nazis can rise. People perform a calculating trade off: enough will put up with the smell if they see a material advantage in it for them. It is in the human condition I think and not easy for us to eradicate.

    It is not unique to Ireland. Italians kept putting Berlusconi back in office.

    In some ways it was a failure of the media to robustly make the case. One reason I suppose why SF want to destroy any form of independent media.

    Here is a guy who disposed of more lives than Harold Shipman in pursuit of his ambitions and demands that the media don't examine his activities.

    ReplyDelete
  35. While the bulk of criticism and rightly so is directed at Gerry Itwasntme the president for life of quisling $inn £eind and while the guilt of rape and sexual abuse lies with his brother,the fact that this man who has and continues to lie is allowed to remain the party leader and TD clearley says to me that those who infest quisling $inn £eind are guilty by association,good guys or not they all need to explain their position.running with the fox and hunting with the hounds can no longer be an acceptable position .

    ReplyDelete
  36. Tain bo "I dont know what keeps him at the helm" ,a cara the same thing that keeps any party leader at the helm and that is his party faithful and his performance, that Adams is allowed to remain as leader of quisling $inn £eind says nothing about his performance or leadership but speaks volumes about the calibre who those within that party,an old republican saying "that your only as good as your last job may yet come into play in relation to the" president for lifes" tenure of office.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Marty,

    and the party faithful for the most part get to suck the hind tit. But as has often been said people are more afraid of being isolated than they are afraid of being wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Tain Bo
    At one time people did love him even the odd movie star.

    The ordinary people loved him. When he was first elected the people were totally euphoric.

    Then slowly but surely reality dawned and dawned until there was no escaping reality.
    And the rest as they say Tain Bo is history.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Nuala,

    I never did take to the man or his sidekick Morrison I did have great respect for others in the party who were more charismatic and personable and in my opinion would have been better suited as leaders.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Marty,

    I agree with you though my point is the old guards like the rest of us are aging and at some point commandant Gerry will have to give up his throne.
    I just don’t see a charismatic replacement and when the head goes I assume the party will implode with personality wars.

    Always good to see you mate best a luck

    ReplyDelete
  41. Tain bo a cara I agree Adams is the cohesion that holds that bunch of carpetbaggers together,like Mark Anthony and Brutus some in the party may decide its ides of March time and like Mc Cartney stick the knife in,if so I to think that quisling $inn £eind like the sticks will implode and we shall see the carpetbaggers and ego,s gutting each other in a free for all, personally I would enjoy the show watching those wasters showing their true colours,anyway a cara I,m hitting the hills in the morn heading to Leitrim to organise my christmas supply of poteen then up the hills to Donegal for some serious craic and not a fucking politician or quisling apologist in sight .amen.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Wise man Marty enjoy the dander I could use a bottle of poteen myself.
    I am sure when it comes the showdown at the not so OK Coral will be worth the watching.

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  43. I have been following the Gerry Adams story and one thing that I find difficult to fathom as to why I have not seen one reporter ask the question of this rape, cover-up and subsequent breach of party rules by the President to Martin Guinness ? He seems to have an opinion on everything else that is topical but strangely silent on this issue. It would be inconceivable, given the relationship that he has had with Gerry both through the army and SF, that he would have no knowledge of Liam Adam,s abuse of Aine. The decent republican community in Buncrana who give this abuser work, billet and support deserve clarity, as to why he was allowed to roam unabetted within their community. At the beginning this was indeed a private family matter but Gerry Adams by his actions (or lack of) has made it a live issue for Sinn Fein. The people who vote Sinn Fein through-out ireland deserve an answer at the very least. Silence is not always golden martin.

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  44. Should aiden troy not come forward and explain his role in this seeing th other priest died.

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  45. I think gerry adams is a pure sociopath. Will this affect sinn feins votes in the coming election?

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  46. Billy,

    If you want to contact Aidan Troy click here and email or phone him and ask him directly for an explanation. If you are in Paris, St Joe's is only 5mins from l'arc de triomphe.

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  47. In the aftermath of the Liam Adams trial and with the availability of documents and court records to give a deeper understanding of what precisely happened we are undoubtedly grateful that we live in the internet age when information is accessible pretty quickly before somebody dresses it up and presents it to us as something more akin to propaganda than fact.

    A bit like a lie getting half way around the world before the truth is out of the starting blocks.
    Rest assured people on day you'll be telling your grand kids, "I remember when the internet was the internet"..

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  48. Frankie....Why would i want to contact Aiden Troy personaly.imo i thought he would have explained his role in this affair through maybe a letter to a paper or something.after all its a guilty verdict on child rape.then again gerry maybe chose carefully who he confided in.who better than priests.

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  49. Billy brooks
    You are totally right and there is a lot of speculation as to what Fr Troy did and did not know.

    I remember Troy on the TV when the story first broke and yes it would be interesting to hear from him.

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  50. Nuala,

    I think he could help clarify although I never saw him as the villain.

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  51. Think Gerry would be smart enough to tell this to Fr Troy (If he did?) in the sanctuary of confession, just like he minimised the offence when he said Liam admitted sexually assaulted Aine. Obviously his legal advice was spot on!

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  52. Does the old confession box trick work in the north.i dont think troy was called at the trial but i would imagine he would have been asked for a statement on the with holding information charge that werent given the nod by whoever.

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  53. Mackers,
    There was something about Fr Troy at the time not too sure what it was!

    Billy yes confession works for people who may want to confess but they don't have a lie detector so Gerry's safe.

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  54. “But the most deafening silence has been the silence of absolutely nobody from within Sinn Fein asking a question.”

    Gerard,
    I think the above can be asked of many Republicans from that time, for information like that would have been impossible to contain. I would have expected even the Dark Hughes and others of that standing to have had prior knowledge of this. To imply that they didn’t is absurd and deserves contempt for its insult to our intelligence. Why they didn’t act to protect a child is anyone’s guess. Perhaps ignorance of the trauma of paedophilia, for the brutal nature of this type of crime is relatively new in society or a desire to protect the organisation / institution at all costs. Who knows? The fact remains that all those involved in SF and the Republican movement shut up shop.

    The deafening silence is most likely a directive from the top down and a directive zealously applied by those who remain within SF. For I’m sure, as Liam Adams alluded to, there are more paedophiles hiding within and for that matter known to the British, and who would be quite eager to avoid any embarrassing questions that may expose their role. But the silence is not just deafening but hypocritical also by those now stand outside of SF and the Republican Movement and cast their stones……that is what is even more repulsive about this whole episode in a child’s life….those who now guard her, were once those who guarded against her!

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