:00:22. > :00:30.Gerry Adams. The man who led the IRA into the peace process. Love him or
:00:31. > :00:33.loathe him, his impact and influence have been enormous. But is Gerry
:00:34. > :00:41.Adams' political future a hostage to his past? The Sinn Fein leader is
:00:42. > :00:45.suffering a crisis of credibility after a wave of negative publicity.
:00:46. > :00:51.Most notably in a television programme about the Disappeared.
:00:52. > :00:56.Did you know Kevin McKee? A young lad in Ballymurphy. Not that I can
:00:57. > :01:00.recall. But I may have. But I can't recall He did know Kevin McKee. I
:01:01. > :01:05.was with Kevin when he spoke to Kevin. He's either lying, or has a
:01:06. > :01:11.selective memory. Is Gerry Adams' past catching up
:01:12. > :01:18.with him? I accept I was a war maker as an IRA man. I went through my
:01:19. > :01:25.life believing we were led by two men called Gerry and Martin, then
:01:26. > :01:30.finding out Gerry was never a member of the IRA. Me and my generation are
:01:31. > :01:34.the silliest people in the world for believing this. The assault on Gerry
:01:35. > :01:38.Adams' credibility comes just as his political career should be reaching
:01:39. > :01:42.its peak. Sinn Fein is within reach of one of its stepping stones to a
:01:43. > :01:47.united Ireland, holding power on both sides of the border. Gerry
:01:48. > :01:52.Adams led his party to this point in spite of his past. But with Sinn
:01:53. > :01:57.Fein dipping in the South's opinion polls, the party has to wrestle with
:01:58. > :02:02.a crucial leadership question. Should he stay or should he go?
:02:03. > :02:07.He is quite a popular leader. But his political career is over. I'm
:02:08. > :02:10.satisfied that there's a campaign to remove Gerry Adams as the leader of
:02:11. > :02:14.republicanism in Ireland. And I am telling you that is not going to
:02:15. > :02:17.happen. Tonight on Spotlight, we ask if
:02:18. > :02:19.Gerry Adams is still Sinn Fein's greatest asset or in danger of
:02:20. > :02:31.becoming his liability?
:02:32. > :02:36.Gerry Adams' political career began here. The people of West Belfast
:02:37. > :02:42.know him best. This is where he grew up, repeatedly led the local unit of
:02:43. > :02:47.the Provisional IRA, and eventually became a popular MP. Do you think
:02:48. > :02:55.your generation is more political than your parents'? And this is the
:02:56. > :02:59.generation raised under his watch, all born after the cease-fire, these
:03:00. > :03:07.students on the cusp of voting age, Sinn Fein's newest target audience.
:03:08. > :03:13.Was a good leader for Sinn Fein, giving a voice to Catholics in West
:03:14. > :03:17.Belfast when we did not have one. Even without being interested in
:03:18. > :03:23.politics, you knew who Gerry Adams was, he has tried to lead Sinn Fein
:03:24. > :03:27.to be more progressive. He is one of the reasons we have peace in the
:03:28. > :03:32.North, we have a lot to thank him for. You are using the past tense
:03:33. > :03:39.when talking about Gerry Adams. Is that how you see him? There is time
:03:40. > :03:43.for a change. Some leaders are dealing with the past, not what is
:03:44. > :03:50.happening now. I think he has overstayed in Sinn Fein. People
:03:51. > :03:54.forget to easy. He is trying to spread out Sinn Fein and show it is
:03:55. > :04:02.not just for North Island, but throughout Ireland. -- North
:04:03. > :04:04.Ireland. In terms of whether he should step down, you kind of has an
:04:05. > :04:16.away. That passed at the very centre of
:04:17. > :04:24.conflict has emanated Gerry Adams' life. Decades, he has embodied the
:04:25. > :04:33.republican movement's revolution, emerging as a figure justifying the
:04:34. > :04:35.IRA's campaign of violence. The British normally invade every
:04:36. > :04:43.country when it is in their interest to do so. - normally leave every
:04:44. > :04:51.country. We make it in their interest to do so. And he helped
:04:52. > :04:55.make it a place in the mainstream. His place in history will be pretty
:04:56. > :05:02.eminent. He brought republicanism out of the state of conflict into
:05:03. > :05:09.politics. That was an incredible achievement, given the ferocity of
:05:10. > :05:12.the conflict. He succeeded in an incredible political manoeuvre.
:05:13. > :05:16.Whatever you think of the man, the political skills in getting Sinn
:05:17. > :05:20.Fein and the IRA to where they are now of the highest order. The path
:05:21. > :05:26.to power has been laced with personal triumphs, from Sinn Fein's
:05:27. > :05:31.earliest electoral breakthroughs, to a place on the international stage.
:05:32. > :05:34.I do not think there would be a peace process without Gerry Adams,
:05:35. > :05:42.he is the single most important figure. He took a major political
:05:43. > :05:46.gamble two years ago. Leaving one of Westminster's safest seats in West
:05:47. > :05:51.Belfast to enter southern politics. He hit the jackpot, topping the poll
:05:52. > :05:56.in Louth. At the same time, Sinn Fein rows with him, rocketing to its
:05:57. > :06:04.best results in a modern Irish election. This is his new home, the
:06:05. > :06:07.constituency of Louth, and in the border town of Dundalk, Gerry Adams
:06:08. > :06:13.is a largely popular local politician. How do you rate Gerry
:06:14. > :06:18.Adams? First-class, excellent, man for the
:06:19. > :06:23.people. Has done a lot for the town, no complaints at all, a great
:06:24. > :06:32.supporter. Would you vote for Sinn Fein? Yes, more so than Fianna Fail
:06:33. > :06:42.or anything. Would you be a Sinn Fein supporter? Definitely not. Why?
:06:43. > :06:43.Well, the record is there, isn't it? It will take them a long
:06:44. > :06:50.Well, the record is there, isn't it? themselves of the record that we
:06:51. > :06:58.have had. But what is Gerry Adams' own record? For decades, he has been
:06:59. > :07:03.denying IRA membership. The situation of my membership of the
:07:04. > :07:08.IRA is I am not a member, that is the fact of the situation. Are you
:07:09. > :07:15.now or have you ever been a member of the IRA? No. I was not and I am
:07:16. > :07:21.not a member. I can explain why he denied it at the beginning. He could
:07:22. > :07:26.be prosecuted once he said so. But why does he continue to deny? Once
:07:27. > :07:31.he was in that situation, it was difficult to change his mind. To see
:07:32. > :07:36.he was actually in the IRA. Now it has got to the point of ridicule. It
:07:37. > :07:41.is the height of absurdity would you can produce the minutes of two
:07:42. > :07:47.meetings in 1972 that the British had with the IRA and who were the
:07:48. > :07:52.two representatives, Daihi O'Connell and Gerry Adams? Unless Gerry Adams
:07:53. > :07:58.was making the tea of representing St Vincent de Paul or something!
:07:59. > :08:05.Even some who were in the IRA found Gerry Adams' denial is hard to take.
:08:06. > :08:10.These days, Gerard Hodgins is a critic of Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein,
:08:11. > :08:16.but used to be a member of the IRA and a Sinn Fein activist and says he
:08:17. > :08:21.was part of Gerry Adams' election team in 1987. Our brief was to get
:08:22. > :08:27.him re-elected in the Westminster election for June 1987. We had
:08:28. > :08:31.briefing paper on which it was suggested that it would be best to
:08:32. > :08:36.put the whole issue of IRA membership to bed once and for all
:08:37. > :08:42.by acknowledging past membership or association and then it would become
:08:43. > :08:47.a dead issue. Gerry said no, and the issue has become bigger and bigger
:08:48. > :08:52.for him as the years go on. Very interesting, because I was electoral
:08:53. > :09:00.director until it was shut halfway through the campaign and I saw no
:09:01. > :09:04.papers for Gerry Adams and I worked with all of his election since 1982,
:09:05. > :09:08.and at no time was there a discussion in Sinn Fein as to
:09:09. > :09:12.whether Gerry Adams was a member of the IRA. I went through my life
:09:13. > :09:18.believing that we were fighting for the Republic and were being led by
:09:19. > :09:22.two people called Gerry and Marton, then finding out
:09:23. > :09:28.two people called Gerry and Marton, never a member, that Martin left in
:09:29. > :09:31.1974, around when I joined. So me and my generation are really the
:09:32. > :09:39.silliest people in the world for believing this, for them not being
:09:40. > :09:44.honest with themselves. It does not matter to me whether Gerry Adams was
:09:45. > :09:47.in the IRA. I live within the Republican world, and served the
:09:48. > :09:53.Republicans every day, and people are not queueing up to as me if he
:09:54. > :09:58.was in the IRA or not. In a statement, Gerry Adams said he has
:09:59. > :10:01.made his position on membership of the IRA many times, but questions
:10:02. > :10:05.around his credibility were crystallised in a documentary on the
:10:06. > :10:09.Disappeared, people killed and secretly buried by Republicans.
:10:10. > :10:13.Gerry Adams played a crucial role in recovering some of the missing
:10:14. > :10:19.bodies, but he allegedly ordered one of the killings, according to the
:10:20. > :10:23.late Brendan Hughes, a former close friend and IRA commander who came to
:10:24. > :10:35.consider Gerry Adams actuator. This woman was taken away. -- consider
:10:36. > :10:38.Gerry Adams actuator. -- traitor. It was Jean McConville, and only one
:10:39. > :10:43.man could order the killing, and that was the head of Sinn Fein. Did
:10:44. > :10:49.you give the order for the killing of Jean McConville? No, I had no
:10:50. > :10:52.part to play in the abduction, killing or burial of Jean
:10:53. > :10:58.McConville, or indeed any of the other individuals and Brendan is
:10:59. > :11:02.telling lies. But for some, Gerry Adams' remarks raised more
:11:03. > :11:09.questions, like Marie McKee, taking part in the joint BBC and RTE
:11:10. > :11:14.documentary, watching it in her West Belfast home, her brother Kevin's
:11:15. > :11:24.body never being found. Did you know Kevin McKee? Did I know him? I
:11:25. > :11:32.cannot say I know him. Person to person. But I know his family. I
:11:33. > :11:40.know his siblings. Did you know him as a young lad in Ballymurphy? Not
:11:41. > :11:44.that I recall, I may have. Kevin McKee's mother was looking for him,
:11:45. > :11:49.entire families looking for him. Bear with me, do you not live in the
:11:50. > :11:56.real world? People go off, people disappeared, people have reported
:11:57. > :12:04.having seen such and such a person. What do you think of that? What does
:12:05. > :12:07.he mean, people disappear? People do not just disappear, someone other
:12:08. > :12:14.takes a personal way or the person goes away. That is a manifest lie
:12:15. > :12:19.that he did not know Kevin McKee, he did know Kevin McKee, I was with
:12:20. > :12:25.Kevin McKee when he spoke to Kevin, I have been asking for 40 years, we
:12:26. > :12:30.have is my brother? And if anybody is in a position to find him, it
:12:31. > :12:36.will be him. He is the only one that can go to people, that move who was
:12:37. > :12:42.there, even if able are dead, someone knows something. And he is
:12:43. > :12:51.telling lies! The whole lot is a crock and he knows it. Gerry Adams
:12:52. > :12:56.was lying in this programme? Yesterday is either lying or he has
:12:57. > :13:00.a selective memory and I think he is lying.
:13:01. > :13:07.He says he has gone to people and he is helping.
:13:08. > :13:17.No, he is not. He could find my brother. I know he could. He could
:13:18. > :13:25.ask questions and find out. Did he walk to his death? Did he look
:13:26. > :13:32.around? Did he say anything? Did he ask for money? Did he ask for me? I
:13:33. > :13:37.would love to know more. I would love to know where my brother is and
:13:38. > :13:42.bring him up and bury him and then there? That would be the end of
:13:43. > :13:44.that. Tonight Gerry Adams said he did not lie and has no memory of an
:13:45. > :13:51.encounter with Kevin McKee. He told us he regrets the injustice
:13:52. > :13:55.done to the family and refute any suggestion Republicans are not doing
:13:56. > :14:02.their best to retrieve the remains of all those killed and secretly
:14:03. > :14:07.buried. Marie McKee comes from the same streets as Gerry Adams. What
:14:08. > :14:11.resonates about reactions to all the stories of the Disappeared is that
:14:12. > :14:18.they attract criticism from Republican voices.
:14:19. > :14:23.They Disappeared under the single biggest, darkest part of the
:14:24. > :14:27.Troubles, really. It is the denial, the dishonesty and not knowing what
:14:28. > :14:34.happened that people are finding difficult to deal with.
:14:35. > :14:35.People rationalise in food waste but he has a credibility problem and the
:14:36. > :14:41.party has a credibility problem another segment of the electorate
:14:42. > :14:48.out there within nationalism, which is stifled Sinn Fein's growth. They
:14:49. > :14:55.have plateaued in the north and in terms of growing chimp a's -- Sinn
:14:56. > :15:01.Fein's appeal will have to wait for new leadership.
:15:02. > :15:05.The damage to his reputation is not confined to disputes in the
:15:06. > :15:10.Troubles. He is accused of rewriting personal history to protect his
:15:11. > :15:15.political career. In October this year, his brother Liam was found
:15:16. > :15:21.guilty of raping and sexually assaulting his daughter, Aine. It
:15:22. > :15:25.was a tragic family story and a terrible crime committed by Gerry
:15:26. > :15:28.Adams brother. From the very beginning I believed
:15:29. > :15:35.Aine. I couldn't From the very beginning I believed
:15:36. > :15:39.are making up a serious allegation. It was a testing time for Gerry
:15:40. > :15:47.Adams not just because a sensitive family issue was aired in public.
:15:48. > :15:51.Gerry Adams came here in April for his brother's first trial not to
:15:52. > :15:57.offer his support but to testify as a witness for the prosecution.
:15:58. > :16:01.According to Gerry Adams, his brother had confessed to one
:16:02. > :16:07.incident of sexual abuse more than a decade before the trial. Gerry Adams
:16:08. > :16:13.was criticised for not reporting it as soon as he found out and only
:16:14. > :16:16.coming forward years later. On the one hand, there is human
:16:17. > :16:20.simply because most people would say, this is a horrible thing to
:16:21. > :16:21.happen in your family. I don't think anybody is wanting to hunt Gerry
:16:22. > :16:26.Adams over that issue. anybody is wanting to hunt Gerry
:16:27. > :16:30.hand, Sinn Fein is vulnerable over hypocrisy and everyone remembers
:16:31. > :16:32.Sinn Fein coming out and demanding that Bishop after Bishop should
:16:33. > :16:38.resign for the same reason, that they knew about child abuse and
:16:39. > :16:46.didn't do anything about it. There is damage done in relation to that.
:16:47. > :16:52.Republicans relationship with the police was not what you would call
:16:53. > :16:58.cordial. Shortly after Sinn Fein fated to accept the new PSNI, that
:16:59. > :17:03.is when he went to the police. And a cross examination by his brother's
:17:04. > :17:09.barrister, Gerry Adams was accused of testifying to save his political
:17:10. > :17:15.skin, an accusation he denied. His credibility was tested in the
:17:16. > :17:20.witness box. Gerry Adams came under particular pressure over the extent
:17:21. > :17:23.of the contact he had had with his brother after learning of the abuse.
:17:24. > :17:31.Gerry Adams claimed that Liam was largely out of his life.
:17:32. > :17:35.I saw him occasionally during that time, maybe a period of 15 years,
:17:36. > :17:41.when I learned that he was a member of Sinn Fein, and I'm got him dumped
:17:42. > :17:43.out. During the trial he was confronted
:17:44. > :17:48.with evidence that his brother had been more than an occasional
:17:49. > :17:52.presence in his life. Photos of them together, one of his memoirs in
:17:53. > :17:56.which he thanked Liam Adams and a signed copy of this speech that he
:17:57. > :18:05.presented to his brother. I didn't read the transcript. I have
:18:06. > :18:08.read that it was attended but he was in court against his own brother and
:18:09. > :18:09.that has to count for something. People have got to understand
:18:10. > :18:15.that has to count for something. a very difficult thing to go into
:18:16. > :18:21.court and Daniel own brother -- and deny your own brother.
:18:22. > :18:24.How much has Gerry Adams reputation really suffered? Earlier this month,
:18:25. > :18:32.days after the allegations about your McConville were broadcast, he
:18:33. > :18:36.flew to New York for dinner at this hotel. If an annual event, helping
:18:37. > :18:42.to rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for the party.
:18:43. > :18:45.Gerry Adams was received very well in New York. He is the best-known
:18:46. > :18:51.Irish politician in America because of his work on the peace process.
:18:52. > :18:55.Niall O'Dowd has no Gerry Adams since the early 1980s.
:18:56. > :19:02.The thing I would say about Gerry Adams is he is a man of his word. He
:19:03. > :19:04.was determined to Adams is he is a man of his word. He
:19:05. > :19:09.peaceful resolution to the issues in Ireland and he did those things.
:19:10. > :19:13.Peace has been achieved in Northern Ireland and we need to build for the
:19:14. > :19:17.future. There is not much point dragging out the past on any site.
:19:18. > :19:26.But this is where Gerry Adams image matters most these days, in the
:19:27. > :19:31.Republic. Irish Times cartoonist Gerry Turner has been drawing Gerry
:19:32. > :19:36.Adams for many decades, just one of the many windows through the Irish
:19:37. > :19:44.topic have viewed him. -- Irish public.
:19:45. > :19:49.When I first drew him, I did it like this and I never thought about it, I
:19:50. > :19:53.just did it. Is your own persistent denial of
:19:54. > :20:00.being a member of the IRA... He may not give about much but Gerry Adams
:20:01. > :20:03.strategic thinking and image have played a huge part in building the
:20:04. > :20:08.IRA in the South. In opinion polls he has consistently
:20:09. > :20:12.been more popular than his party. His entry into southern politics two
:20:13. > :20:18.years ago helped lift Sinn Fein. They now have an opportunity to play
:20:19. > :20:22.out the long game and become the Republic's third biggest party and
:20:23. > :20:28.possibly junior partners for a coalition government. That would
:20:29. > :20:30.make the Sinn Fein leader the second most powerful figure in the Irish
:20:31. > :20:34.cabinet. Sinn Fein have been working for
:20:35. > :20:40.years to get to this stage where they are administered in the
:20:41. > :20:44.government, North and South. They will deny that and they will deny
:20:45. > :20:47.they are even thinking of having a coalition with horrible right-wing
:20:48. > :20:50.parties but they would go into coalition with old neck
:20:51. > :20:56.could get into government. -- old neck. Gerry Adams has had to
:20:57. > :20:59.tackle issues from the Republican past and in getting to grips with
:21:00. > :21:04.the past, he has had to make public messages in an attempt to
:21:05. > :21:11.disentangle his leadership and party from the past. Brian Stack was the
:21:12. > :21:16.only prison officer killed in the Republic during the Troubles. Father
:21:17. > :21:22.of three was shot and left paralysed and brain-damaged before dying from
:21:23. > :21:27.his injuries. After 30 years of denials, Gerry Adams intervened and
:21:28. > :21:35.was able to tell Brian Stack's family that the IRA had carried out
:21:36. > :21:37.the killing. I can sleep now. I am not tossing and turning in bed any
:21:38. > :21:44.more, wondering did they or didn't they? Even though I knew
:21:45. > :21:47.more, wondering did they or didn't then. A huge sense of relief and it
:21:48. > :21:49.wouldn't have happened if Gerry Adams hadn't agreed to meet us and
:21:50. > :21:57.agreed to go and get some information for us. It just wouldn't
:21:58. > :22:00.have happened otherwise. He probably feels his political career is in its
:22:01. > :22:05.last stages and I get a sense he wants to help victims. He wants to
:22:06. > :22:10.write a few wrongs before he moves off the stage.
:22:11. > :22:18.There is no question Gerry Adams has been willing to tackle episodes from
:22:19. > :22:21.the past of the IRA but critics say, he is more likely to get involved
:22:22. > :22:26.when those episodes posed a physical problem for Sinn Fein. The challenge
:22:27. > :22:32.for him now is that his past makes success in the South even more
:22:33. > :22:42.difficult. There is no doubt that Gerry Adams box office in West
:22:43. > :22:45.Belfast and in Louth. He has struggled in Leinster house when he
:22:46. > :22:53.is making perfectly valid points about the austerity measures but it
:22:54. > :22:58.is too easy for them to say, never mind that, tell us about the
:22:59. > :23:02.Disappeared. Perhaps you might someday tell the
:23:03. > :23:06.truth about the tragedy and about the remorse and about the compassion
:23:07. > :23:10.that should have been shown to Jean McConville.
:23:11. > :23:15.The other concern about the recent revelations that Sinn Fein will have
:23:16. > :23:19.is it was a reminder of the conflict and the conflict is a turn-off for
:23:20. > :23:25.the vast majority of people in the South. That diminishes with time but
:23:26. > :23:28.it is a negative for a large number of voters and being
:23:29. > :23:33.it is a negative for a large number is not helpful for Gerry Adams.
:23:34. > :23:37.I think you get in the way of Sinn Fein, to be honest with you, and the
:23:38. > :23:41.Republic. The politics are interesting but when you see Gerry
:23:42. > :23:44.Adams, things come into your mind and it is nothing to do with Sinn
:23:45. > :23:48.Fein. Sinn Fein has fallen slightly in
:23:49. > :23:53.opinion polls since the Disappeared was broadcast but some say the real
:23:54. > :23:58.damage is to their potential for growth.
:23:59. > :24:03.Recent indicators would tend to suggest there has been some damage
:24:04. > :24:06.to the brunt of Adams and not his own supporters but those supporters
:24:07. > :24:09.that he would hope to gain over the coming years.
:24:10. > :24:16.Like here in the County Kildare town which classed select did a Sinn Fein
:24:17. > :24:21.TD in the 1920s, but the vote in this town within the Dublin commuter
:24:22. > :24:27.belt is growing. Would you vote for Sinn Fein? Of course I would.
:24:28. > :24:30.No problem. No problem. There is so much frustration here
:24:31. > :24:35.the present government and all the cutbacks we've had that the anger is
:24:36. > :24:42.going to come out in the next election and I think they are going
:24:43. > :24:48.to be net winners because they are just sitting on their hands. There
:24:49. > :24:53.is all the stuff in the news at the moment, bodies and his brother,
:24:54. > :24:57.obviously, all of this will have a big impact.
:24:58. > :24:59.Would you have more time for the party if they changed the
:25:00. > :25:06.leadership? It might mean more credible if they
:25:07. > :25:12.had a different face that was not so attached to the past. Sinn Fein's
:25:13. > :25:14.future fortunes lie in the Republic, which may be why Gerry Adams has
:25:15. > :25:21.predicted the next president of Sinn Fein will come from the South.
:25:22. > :25:28.I think there is a geographical but also a generational move within the
:25:29. > :25:35.party. If you look at the next generation of leadership, they are
:25:36. > :25:42.creatures of southern politics and I think if you look at the party
:25:43. > :25:48.development over a longer term, it's real interest is in wielding power
:25:49. > :25:52.in the South. The North, for the foreseeable future, will remain, I
:25:53. > :25:57.think, recognisably what it is today.
:25:58. > :26:00.We are now getting to a stage in Sinn Fein where there has to be a
:26:01. > :26:04.generational change and the older card will disappear. The people
:26:05. > :26:08.involved in the IRA are of an age where they are going to retire so
:26:09. > :26:14.there will be a huge symbolic change and closing the door on the past.
:26:15. > :26:22.Dublin on Sunday. A state ceremony to mark the centenary of the funding
:26:23. > :26:26.of the Irish volunteers. The precursor of the IRA and a
:26:27. > :26:31.forerunner of the current Irish army. A ceremony attended by leading
:26:32. > :26:37.politicians from the Republic and some from Northern Ireland. This
:26:38. > :26:40.ceremony was a preview of the Republic's plans to mark the
:26:41. > :26:49.centenary of the Eastern rising in 2016. The question is whether Gerry
:26:50. > :26:51.Adams will watch that landmark commemoration as Sinn Fein leader or
:26:52. > :26:55.as someone standing on the sidelines.
:26:56. > :27:04.His reputation has been damaged his own handling of his personal
:27:05. > :27:08.situation. His good ability has been damaged and in politics, if you lose
:27:09. > :27:14.your credibility and you are seeing as someone who has not been truthful
:27:15. > :27:18.at all times, you do lose support. He won't go right now because that
:27:19. > :27:23.will appear to be a media campaign to get rid of him and it will look
:27:24. > :27:29.like the media pushed him out. He can't let himself be pushed around
:27:30. > :27:37.like that. But if he is solely concerned with endgame, he ought to
:27:38. > :27:41.be looking for a successor right now and he ought to be preparing to
:27:42. > :27:47.vacate the stage before the next general election.
:27:48. > :27:49.Commentators will talk about Gerry Adams credibility and he remains
:27:50. > :27:53.high in the opinion polls so I am happy to leave this to
:27:54. > :27:57.high in the opinion polls so I am decide. I come from a party, when I
:27:58. > :28:01.joined Sinn Fein, it was an illegal organisation. We are now the second
:28:02. > :28:07.largest party in the North and we are probably the predominant
:28:08. > :28:12.opposition in the counties. We are a growing party and I'm proud of that
:28:13. > :28:17.and I am pleased to have worked with Gerry Adams because he has driven
:28:18. > :28:20.that more than anybody else. Belfast on Sunday night and a
:28:21. > :28:25.dissident republican attempt to bomb the city centre. This is one reason
:28:26. > :28:33.why the future leadership of the wider republican movement matters.
:28:34. > :28:37.Moving into a post Adams scenario creates a challenge for
:28:38. > :28:40.republicanism. They would probably be an ease within Sinn Fein that a
:28:41. > :28:46.southern leadership -- unease be an ease within Sinn Fein that a
:28:47. > :28:50.Sinn Fein that a southern leadership could fail to maintain the same
:28:51. > :28:56.authority across the spectrum of republican communities in the North
:28:57. > :28:59.and there could be a sense that dissidents could manipulate or find
:29:00. > :29:03.room to manoeuvre in if that were the case and that would be something
:29:04. > :29:08.that Sinn Fein would be mindful of at the moment.
:29:09. > :29:11.Gerry Adams moved a generation of Republicans away from this kind of
:29:12. > :29:21.attack something acknowledged by his Republican critics.
:29:22. > :29:26.You have to remember this was... We are never going to go back to war,
:29:27. > :29:31.especially if Gerry Adams goes. It would be ridiculous to say, Gerry is
:29:32. > :29:37.a, let's go back to war. Sinn Fein brought in from the cold. There are
:29:38. > :29:41.systems of power here, salaries and pensions and stuff so they are not
:29:42. > :29:46.going to go back to war. In West Belfast, the peace process offers
:29:47. > :29:50.the next generation the prospect of a better future but for Gerry
:29:51. > :29:55.Adams, who did so much to lead public and into the process, there
:29:56. > :29:57.remain Ross Jones about the past which will not go away.