SINN FEIN'S MESSENGER ROLE ABUSED SAYS ADAMS

[mrgorth]

SINN FEIN'S MESSENGER ROLE ABUSED SAYS ADAMS
02/05/05 10:10 EST

Sinn Fein's role as messengers for the IRA has been abused
by the British and Irish governments, Mr Gerry Adams claimed
today.


Mr Adams said today that the peace process remained a
priority for the republican movement and he demanded a
similar commitment from everybody else.


Speaking after an AGM of party members in Dublin, Mr Adams
said: "The electoral mandate of the Sinn Fein party has been
ignored. We remain wedded to our peace strategy."


Mr Adams added that the "mishandling" of recent peace
efforts has been "extremely damaging to the peace process".


He added: "They need to take their heads out of their asses
for a start."


He added that there was an understandably "huge focus" on
the IRA at the moment, but he urged everybody to adopt a
sensitive approach on the road to peace.


"Sinn Fein is totally opposed to any return to conflict, we
are totally wedded to our peace strategy. We resent greatly
any suggestion to the contrary," Mr Adams told journalists
in Dublin.


Mr Adams said the Irish and British governments needed to be
less confrontational.


"Government ministers doing meetings with Sinn Fein which
are businesslike meetings and then presenting them to the
media as confrontational, as high-noon ... isn't helpful
whatsoever," he said.
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[Maeve]

1. What a quote!

Glad I hadn't taken that first sip of coffee before reading that. I don't know how long Adams can persuade the radicals to keep a lid on.

If they really have evidence that links the bank job to the IRA and to Sinn Fein, they better trot some of it out. If they keep pushing the way they have been, some of the "lads" are going to say that they might as well be shot for a sheep as a lamb and the hell with the ceasefire. (Totally bad move that would be, but what do Blair and Ahern think is going to happen at this point???)