Editing Gerry Adams (section)

==Early political career==
[[File:Gerry Adams Easter Lily Badge.jpg|thumb|upright|Adams wearing an [[Easter Lily (badge)|Easter Lily]] (2008)]]
In the late 1960s, a [[Northern Ireland civil rights movement|civil rights campaign developed in Northern Ireland]]. After being radicalised by the Divis Street riots during the [[1964 United Kingdom general election]] campaign, Adams joined [[Sinn Féin]] and [[Fianna Éireann]].<ref name="EI">{{Cite book |title=The Encyclopaedia of Ireland |publisher=Gill & Macmillan |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7171-3000-9 |editor-last=Lalor, Brian |location=Dublin, Ireland |pages=7–8}}</ref> Adams was an active supporter and joined the [[Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association]] in 1967.<ref name="EI" /> The civil rights movement was met with violence from [[Ulster loyalism|loyalist]] counter-demonstrations and the RUC, and British troops were called in at the request of the [[Government of Northern Ireland (1921-1972)|Government of Northern Ireland]].

Adams was active in rioting at this time and later became involved in the [[Republican movement (Ireland)|republican movement]]. In August 1971, [[internment]] was reintroduced to Northern Ireland under the [[Civil Authorities (Special Powers) Act (Northern Ireland) 1922|Special Powers Act 1922]]. Adams was captured by British soldiers in March 1972 and in a ''Belfast Telegraph'' report on Adams' capture he was said to be "one of the most wanted men in Belfast".<ref>"Troops catch three top Provisionals", ''The Belfast Telegraph'', 14 March 1972.</ref><ref>"Detained trio named", ''The Belfast Telegraph'', 15 March 1972.</ref> Adams was interned on {{HMS|Maidstone|1937|6}}, but on the Provisional IRA's insistence was released in June to take part in secret, but abortive talks in London.<ref name="EI" /> The IRA negotiated a short-lived truce with the British government and an IRA delegation met with British Home Secretary [[William Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw|William Whitelaw]] at [[Cheyne Walk]] in Chelsea. The delegation included Adams, [[Martin McGuinness]], [[Sean Mac Stiofain]] ([[Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army|IRA Chief of Staff]]), [[Daithi O'Conaill]], [[Seamus Twomey]], [[Ivor Bell]] and Dublin solicitor [[Myles Shevlin]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=O'Brien |first=Brendan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Io085Nl0CJQC&q=ira%20delegation%20myles%20shevlin%20william%20whitelaw&pg=PA169 |title=The long war: the IRA and Sinn Féin, Brendan O'Brien, p169 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-8156-0597-3 |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310214138/https://books.google.com/books?id=Io085Nl0CJQC&q=ira%20delegation%20myles%20shevlin%20william%20whitelaw&pg=PA169 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Adams was re-arrested in July 1973 and interned at the [[Maze (HM Prison)|Maze prison]]. After taking part in an IRA-organised escape attempt, he was sentenced to a period of imprisonment. During this time, he wrote articles in the paper ''[[An Phoblacht]]'' under the by-line "Brownie", where he criticised the strategy and policy of Sinn Féin president [[Ruairí Ó Brádaigh]] and [[Billy McKee]], the IRA's [[officer commanding]] in Belfast. He was also highly critical of a decision taken by McKee to assassinate members of the rival [[Official IRA]], who had been on ceasefire since 1972.{{sfn|Moloney|2002|pp=166-168}} In 2020, the [[Supreme Court of the United Kingdom|UK Supreme Court]] quashed Adams' convictions for attempting to escape on Christmas Eve in 1973 and again in July 1974.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ng |first=Kate |date=14 May 2020 |title=Gerry Adams wins Supreme Court appeal against convictions over prison break bids |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/gerry-adams-maze-prison-escape-supreme-court-conviction-appeal-verdict-a9511666.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200517134945/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/gerry-adams-maze-prison-escape-supreme-court-conviction-appeal-verdict-a9511666.html |archive-date=17 May 2020 |access-date=17 May 2020 |work=The Independent}}</ref>

In 1977, [[Springfield Road|Ballymurphy]] priest [[Des Wilson (Irish Catholic priest)|Des Wilson]] (who had officiated at Adams's wedding) assisted with an early attempt by Adams to open channels to dissident [[Unionism in Ireland|unionists]]. He helped set up meeting with [[Desmond Boal]] [[Queens counsel|QC]], a unionist barrister who had been first chairman of [[Ian Paisley]]'s [[Democratic Unionist Party]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=11 July 2019 |title=Derry City Cemetery Series: Desmond Boal, the DUP founder and unionist MP who defended dozens of republicans in court |url=https://www.derrynow.com/news/local-news/438702/derry-city-cemetery-series-desmond-boal-the-dup-founder-and-unionist-mp-who-defended-dozens-of-republicans-in-court.html |access-date=21 August 2023 |website=www.derrynow.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Ryder |first=Chris |date=7 May 2015 |title=Desmond Boal obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/may/07/desmond-boal |access-date=21 August 2023 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> At the time, Boal was co-operating with [[Seán MacBride]] as joint mediator in confidential negotiations between the Provisional IRA and the [[Ulster Volunteer Force]] about a federal settlement for Ireland.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Maune |first=Patrick |date=2022 |title=Boal, Desmond Norman Orr {{!}} Dictionary of Irish Biography |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/boal-desmond-norman-orr-a10229 |access-date=21 August 2023 |website=www.dib.ie}}</ref> A short time later, Wilson drove Adams to a meeting with [[John McKeague]], founding member of the [[Red Hand Commando]], then flirting with the idea of an independent Ulster. Inasmuch as they were "frank" , Adams found the meetings "constructive", but could find no common political ground.{{sfn|Sharrock|Devenport|1997|p=155}} Wilson was of the view that Adams was "one of the very few people who could actually bring a military campaign into a political campaign".{{sfn|Sharrock|Devenport|1997|p=462}}

===IRA membership allegations===
Adams has stated repeatedly that he has never been a member of the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] (IRA).<ref>{{cite web |last1=McKeown |first1=Lesley-Anne |title=Gerry Adams denies kidnapping and killing Jean McConville |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-50062709 |website=[[BBC News]] |access-date=22 November 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241122223603/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-50062709 |archive-date=22 November 2024 |language=en |date=17 October 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Rosie Cowan |date=1 October 2002 |title=Adams denies IRA links as book calls him a genius |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk_news/story/0,3604,802084,00.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923170528/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/oct/01/northernireland.northernireland |archive-date=23 September 2021 |access-date=22 March 2007 |work=The Guardian |location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Flavin |first1=Michael |title=Was Gerry Adams a transformational leader? |journal=Small Wars & Insurgencies |date=2 April 2024 |volume=35 |issue=3 |page=434 |doi=10.1080/09592318.2024.2311913 |quote=The IRA that Adams joined in the mid-nineteen sixties was, in effect, moribund, though Adams has always denied IRA membership.|doi-access=free }}</ref> However, journalists such as [[Ed Moloney]],{{sfn|Moloney|2002|p=140}} [[Peter Taylor (journalist)|Peter Taylor]],{{sfn|Taylor|1997|p=140}} and [[Mark Urban]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Urban |first=Mark |title=Big Boys' Rules: SAS and the Secret Struggle Against the IRA |publisher=[[Faber and Faber]] |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-571-16809-5 |page=26}}</ref> and historians, such as [[Richard English]]<ref name="English110">{{Cite book |last=English |first=Richard |author-link=Richard English |title=Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA |publisher=[[Pan Books]] |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-330-49388-8 |page=110}}</ref> and [[John Bowyer Bell]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bell |first1=J. Bowyer |author1-link=J. Bowyer Bell |title=The IRA, 1968-2000: analysis of a secret army |date=2000 |publisher=[[Frank Cass]] |isbn=0714681199 |page=154}}</ref> have all named Adams as part of the IRA leadership since the 1970s. Furthermore, several former IRA members, including [[Brendan Hughes]],<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kelleher |first1=Lynne |title=Tape accusing SF boss Gerry Adams of death squad role to air on TV |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/tape-accusing-sf-boss-gerry-adams-of-death-squad-role-to-air-on-tv/28566652.html |website=[[Belfast Telegraph]] |access-date=22 November 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241122222425/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/tape-accusing-sf-boss-gerry-adams-of-death-squad-role-to-air-on-tv/28566652.html |archive-date=22 November 2024 |language=en |date=25 October 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Ivor Bell]],<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kearney |first1=Vincent |title=Bell not guilty of soliciting murder of Jean McConville |url=https://www.rte.ie/news/2019/1017/1083977-ira-court-verdict/ |website=[[RTÉ News]] |access-date=22 November 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241122234406/https://www.rte.ie/news/2019/1017/1083977-ira-court-verdict/ |archive-date=22 November 2024 |language=en |date=17 October 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Seán Mac Stíofáin]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Interviews - Sean Macstiofain {{!}} The Ira & Sinn Fein {{!}} FRONTLINE {{!}} PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ira/inside/mac.html |website=[[Frontline (American TV program)|PBS Frontline]] |access-date=22 November 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120908022003/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ira/inside/mac.html |archive-date=8 September 2012 |language=en |url-status=live}}</ref> have said Adams was also a member of the organisation. Practically all academics agree that Adams joined [[Irish_Republican_Army_(1922–1969)#1960s:_Marxist_tendency_and_the_1969_split|the IRA in the mid-1960s]], was the [[Officer commanding]] (OC) of the 2nd battalion of the [[Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade|Belfast Brigade]] from 1971 to 1972, became the [[adjutant]] for the brigade in 1972, and had become the OC of the brigade by 1973.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hopkins |first1=Stephen |title=The life history of an exemplary Provisional republican: Gerry Adams and the politics of biography |journal=[[Irish Political Studies]] |date=3 April 2018 |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=11–12 |doi=10.1080/07907184.2018.1454666|hdl=2381/43742 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

Moloney and Taylor state that Adams became the IRA's Chief of Staff following the arrest of [[Seamus Twomey]] in early December 1977, remaining in the position until 18 February 1978 when he, along with twenty other republican suspects, was arrested following the [[La Mon restaurant bombing]].{{sfn|Moloney|2002|pp=171-172}}{{sfn|Taylor|1997|p=201}} He was charged with IRA membership and remanded to [[Crumlin Road Gaol]].{{sfn|Moloney|2002|p=173}} He was released seven months later when the [[Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland]] [[Robert Lowry, Baron Lowry|Robert Lowry]] ruled there was insufficient evidence to proceed with the prosecution.{{sfn|Moloney|2002|p=173}}{{sfn|Taylor|1997|pp=201-202}} Moloney and English state Adams had been a member of the [[IRA Army Council]] since 1977, remaining a member until 2005 according to former Irish [[Minister for Justice (Ireland)|Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform]] [[Michael McDowell (politician)|Michael McDowell]].{{sfn|Moloney|2002|p=380}}<ref name=English110/><ref>{{Cite news |date=29 July 2005 |title=SF members 'leave army council' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4718811.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190814153113/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4718811.stm |archive-date=14 August 2019 |access-date=13 October 2019 |via=news.bbc.co.uk}}</ref>

{{Blockquote
|text=Rightly or wrongly, I am an [[IRA volunteer|IRA Volunteer]] and, rightly or wrongly, I take a course of action as a means to bringing about a situation in which I believe the people of my country will prosper.
|author="Brownie" (reportedly a pseudonym of Adams') in an article written in ''[[An Phoblacht]]'' while Adams was a prisoner in [[Long Kesh]] in 1976<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shanahan |first1=Timothy |title=The Provisional Irish Republican Army and the morality of terrorism |date=18 December 2009 |publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]] |location=Edinburgh |isbn=978-0748635290 |pages=125–126 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Stanage |first1=Niall |title=Blood and guts |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/oct/02/northernireland.comment |website=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=22 November 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241122213912/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/oct/02/northernireland.comment |archive-date=22 November 2024 |language=en |date=2 October 2002 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Cusack |first1=Jim |title=Adams denial of IRA membership mocks his history |url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/adams-denial-of-ira-membership-mocks-his-history/26218540.html |website=[[Irish Independent]] |access-date=22 November 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241122214154/https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/adams-denial-of-ira-membership-mocks-his-history/26218540.html |archive-date=22 November 2024 |language=en |date=7 March 2004 |url-status=live}}</ref>
}}