Gerry Adams libel victory: 'Putting manners' on the BBC or 'hindering freedom of expression'?
The former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has been awarded 鈧�100,000 (拢84,000) in damages after winning his defamation action against the BBC.
Friday 30 May 2025 21:13, UK
Gerry Adams has been asked the question so many times, it has become a meme.
"Were you ever in the IRA?" - The answer is always an emphatic "no".
The former leader of Sinn Fein was never convicted of IRA membership.
But this case wasn't about that decades-old allegation.
He sued the BBC for alleging he'd sanctioned the execution of Denis Donaldson, a former key figure in Sinn Fein turned British agent, something in which he denies any involvement.
Defamation cases can be brought before a court in any jurisdiction where the content is available.
Mr Adams, a member of the Irish parliament at the time the allegations were made in a BBC Spotlight programme, chose Dublin.
The jury found he had been libelled and awarded him €100,000 (£84,000) in damages, which Mr Adams says he will donate to charity.
Speaking outside court, the BBC's Northern Ireland director, Adam Smyth, a former head of news for the corporation in Belfast, said the ruling would "hinder freedom of expression".
But Gerry Adams said it was about "putting manners on the BBC" and accused the corporation of being "out of sync" with the Good Friday agreement.
Asked what it means for his reputation, Mr Adams replied: "I have 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 and let's accept what the jury said."
Captured by British soldiers in 1972, when the Belfast Telegraph described him as "one of the most wanted men in Belfast", Adams was held without trial but released to take part in secret talks with the British government.
Re-arrested in 1973 and interned in the notorious Maze Prison, he was sentenced in relation to an IRA-organised escape plan.
In 2020, the Supreme Court quashed his convictions for attempting to escape in 1973 and 1974.
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In 2014, he was held for four days by detectives investigating the abduction and murder of Belfast mother Jean McConville, but was released without charge as the Public Prosecution Service concluded there was insufficient evidence to charge him with any crime.
The former West Belfast MP, later Louth TD (member of the Irish parliament), is widely credited with persuading republicans to end what they called "the armed struggle" and participate in peace talks, culminating in the Good Friday Agreement.
The leader of Sinn Fein for 35 years, he remains the world's most recognisable Irish republican.
I once asked him if mechanisms existed for dealing with the legacy of Northern Ireland's past, would he find it easier to talk about his past and his long-alleged involvement in the IRA.
"Yes," he replied, "I have said, and Martin (McGuinness) and I said this together, that we would both do our best and encourage other republicans to come forward if there was a satisfactory arrangement put in place and that's my commitment."