Aftermath of Adams brother case

A chara, – In the court case in April in which I appeared as a witness and gave evidence against my brother, the defence team, acting under instructions from their client, made claims about my motivation and conduct.

In his article ("Adversaries believe Gerry Adams is vulnerable", Home News, Analysis, October 15th) Gerry Moriarty relies entirely on these same claims without any attempt at balance. He uses selected words from a lengthy cross-examination in which I was restricted by the court by what I could say as is evident from the transcript.

He acknowledges my rejection that I committed any offence, but like some others in the media he ignores the detailed evidence I gave in the court in response to all of the other claims. He selectively quotes 64 words out of 20,222 contained in my cross-examination which in itself is not the full context of this case.

For the record, I answered all questions put to me. I co-operated fully with all of the law agencies involved. Any decisions I took in respect of statements made by me were taken with legal advice. I reject totally the accusation made by others and carried without question by Gerry Moriarty that I somehow was acting in a “calculated self-interested fashion to avoid charges of withholding information”.

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Instead of repeating defence claims without challenge, Gerry Moriarty should await the conclusion of the attorney general’s review; and following political intervention by the DUP, the Police Ombudsman’s report and the PSNI investigation into these matters.

In a separate article Eamonn McCann (Opinion, October 17th) tries to draw a link between this case and the bishops' handling of child abuse. There is no comparison between these two situations. This was a family tragedy reported to the statutory agencies and RUC in 1987. The Catholic Church hierarchy presided over institutional abuse for decades. They swore victims of abuse to secrecy. The church hierarchy set out to silence victims and deny them justice. – Is mise,

GERRY ADAMS TD,

Sinn Féin President,

Kildare Street,

Dublin 2.