Gerry Adams has told the High Court that he did not take legal action over repeated claims he was a Provisional IRA member and sat on its army council because he was advised he would not get a fair hearing.
The former Sinn Féin leader also told the court on Wednesday that the fact that he was suing the BBC over claims made in a 2016 Spotlight programme showed how seriously he took those claims.
He considers the allegation – namely, that he sanctioned the IRA’s killing of British agent Denis Donaldson in 2006 – a “grievous smear” that undermines progress achieved during the Northern Ireland peace process, he said.
The former Sinn Féin leader was giving evidence on the second week of the civil trial hearing into his action, in which he claims the programme and a related article defamed him.
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The BBC denies it defamed Mr Adams, who insists he had no involvement in Mr Donaldson’s death, which dissident republicans claimed responsibility for in 2009.
Continuing his cross-examination of Mr Adams on Wednesday, Paul Gallagher SC, for the BBC, referred to allegations about Mr Adams made in various books and newspapers – including claims he was a member of the IRA, and sat on its army council. The army council was the decision-making body of the IRA.
Mr Adams said Mr Gallagher was attempting to “smother” the jury by asking him to respond to “obscure quotes”, and that counsel was trying to persuade the jury that he has “no reputation whatsoever”.
Mr Adams said that he did not sue over such allegations previously, because he was advised by his solicitors he would not get a fair hearing.
Mr Adams said he acknowledged that certain allegations made about him were in the public domain “for a very, very long time”. He said that he “didn’t for a second” accept the accuracy of the allegations, adding, “In fact, I deny them”.
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Asked if he was “appalled” by the allegation that he sat on the army council, Mr Adams said he was “irritated” by it, that it got in the way of his efforts during the peace process.
Mr Adams said he considered claims made in the Spotlight programme that the IRA leadership authorised the killing of Mr Donaldson to be “a grievous, grievous smear, and could have no other impact on the peace process but to undermine what we have achieved”.
When Mr Gallagher queried why Mr Adams did not take up the Spotlight programme-makers on their offer to interview him, the plaintiff said he had a right not to co-operate with the documentary. He said he regarded the programme as “a straight ambush”.
“You don’t have to be a genius to see that this programme, and the questions I was going to be asked, were just part of the agenda of the programme maker,” he said.
Mr Gallagher put questions to Mr Adams about the Sunningdale Agreement in 1973, the New Ireland Forum in 1984 and the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985, and suggested there were earlier opportunities during the Troubles for the IRA to end its campaign of violence, and avoid death and devastation. “I wish it was so easy,” Mr Adams responded.
Mr Gallagher put it to Mr Adams that had the IRA ceased its campaign of violence, it would have been easier to find solutions to disputed issues in the conflict. “If my granny was my grandad. Please don’t insult my intelligence by making these suggestions,” he said.
Mr Adams said multiple groups, including the British state, were involved in violence during the conflict.
Mr Adams said that he had not watched the 2024 Disney+ series Say Nothing, a drama that depicts him as an IRA leader, the court heard. “Life is too short to watch Disney, especially when it is dealing with serious issues,” he said.
The trial, before Mr Justice Alexander Owens, continues.
