Adams calls for 'sensitive' approach to peace

Sinn Fein's role as messengers for the IRA has been abused by the British and Irish governments, Mr Gerry Adams claimed today…

Sinn Fein's role as messengers for the IRA has been abused by the British and Irish governments, Mr Gerry Adams claimed today.

Mr Adams insisted today that the peace process remained a priority for the republican movement and he demanded a similar commitment from everybody else.

Speaking after an AGM of party members and TDs in Dublin, Mr Adams said: "The electoral mandate of the Sinn Fein party has been ignored. We remain wedded to our peace strategy."

Mr Adams added that the "mishandling" of recent peace efforts has been "extremely damaging to the peace process". He added: "They need to take their heads out of their asses for a start."

READ MORE

He added that there was an understandably "huge focus" on the IRA at the moment, but he urged everybody to adopt a sensitive approach on the road to peace.

"Sinn Fein is totally opposed to any return to conflict, we are totally wedded to our peace strategy. We resent greatly any suggestion to the contrary," Mr Adams told journalists in Dublin.

Efforts to forge a political settlement ground to a halt in December after a £26.5 million bank heist that Britain and Ireland have blamed on the IRA.

Mr Adams said the Irish and British governments needed to be less confrontational.

"Government ministers doing meetings with Sinn Fein which are businesslike meetings and then presenting them to the media as confrontational, as high-noon ... isn't helpful whatsoever," he said.