Adams says bombing claims false

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has described as “deeply hurtful” claims levelled against him by former IRA prisoner Dolours Price.

Ms Price has alleged he sanctioned the 1973 Old Bailey bombing in which one man died and more than 200 were injured in an interview with last week’s Sunday Telegraph.

Mr Adams today described the Ms Price’s allegations as “very, very serious” as well as “untrue” and “false”. Asked why he did not attempt to sue Ms Price, Mr Adams said: “Because I don’t have the money.”

The Louth TD said he would not make a statement to the Dáil because he had no case to answer. “I think it’s very disappointing . . . and it’s very disappointing that some sections of the media and other political parties repeat these claims as if they were fact,” he said.

Ms Price also purportedly told the Boston Tapes project she was implicated in the murder of mother of 10 Jean McConville when acting for her then alleged IRA commander Mr Adams – a charge the Sinn Féin leader denies.

However, journalist and author Ed Moloney has repeated his assertion that the McConville disappearance did not figure in the Belfast Project oral history archive at Boston College.

In a statement, Mr Moloney said: "So let me once again put the matter on record, with all the strength and force I can muster: Dolours Price did not mention Jean McConville nor talk about what had happened to her in her interviews for the Belfast Project at Boston College."

In relation to the McConville case, Mr Adams said: “I’ve no case to answer. Let me say that what happened to Jean McConville was a grave injustice to her and to her family. The IRA has opened up on those issues, came forward on those issues, apologised for all of that.”