Adams has 'constructive' meeting with McCartneys

The Sinn Féin leader, Mr Gerry Adams, has met the family of murdered Belfast man Mr Robert McCartney in what he said was a "positive…

The Sinn Féin leader, Mr Gerry Adams, has met the family of murdered Belfast man Mr Robert McCartney in what he said was a "positive and constructive engagement".

At a Sinn Féin event in Dublin, Mr Adams revealed he had met Mr McCartney's partner, sisters and father yesterday. He did not say where the meeting took place.

The Sinn Féin president said the people who were "most outraged" at what had happened to Mr McCartney were republicans. The killers of Mr McCartney had to be put into a position where they could be made accountable.

Mr Adams said his party would "not be found wanting" in doing its best to bring closure to the family. He said the onus was on "all of us" to bring closure to the family.

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The family wanted to bring justice for the killers of Mr McCartney and "we have to do that", Mr Adams said.

He said it was the "patriotic duty" of people to help the McCartney family. He said he had been told "upwards of 70 people" had come forward and made statements on the killing. He said that in the past week, some 21 people had come forward.

Mr Adams said that if people did not have a problem with the Police Service of Northern Ireland, then "let them come forward" to the PSNI. But if they did have a problem with the PSNI, that should not be a "blockade" to them coming forward another way.

On the peace process, Mr Adams condemned what he called the current "tornado of abuse" being "unleashed" against Sinn Féin and its supporters. He said there was "no process of meaningful dialogue" with the Irish Government. The onus was on the Government to create and sustain such meaningful dialogue, he said.

Asked about an opinion poll published today that shows his personal opinion rating down by a massive 20 percentage points, Mr Adams said he was "blessed that there's not a pending coup d'etat".

He said he rarely commented on opinion polls, because the "political shysters" say that the polls that suit them are "brilliant" and that they dismiss those that don't.

Mr Adams said the poll was a clear indication of the level of disappointment in the current process and that the situation was "in a mess", adding: "We know it's a serious situation."

But Sinn Féin would continue to work through the difficult times because "this is not an ego trip, it's about building a lasting peace on this island".

Mr Adams was speaking in Dublin at the start of a campaign to urge the Government to prepare a Green Paper on Irish unity. The initiative, for which the party will seek support here and abroad, calls for a Minister of State to be appointed and for elected representatives from Northern Ireland to sit in the Dáil.

He said there was a responsibility on the Government to "take the lead" and to bring forward a strategy to achieve national self-determination, Irish reunification and national reconciliation.

Mr Adams also said the British government should "address this democratic imperative" by becoming "persuaders for Irish unity", and by developing policies to end partition and to end its jurisdiction in Ireland.

Mr Adams said unionist parties would be invited to take part in the process. As part of that, he said republicans needed to "understand and engage with unionism".

Unity of the island had to be of a sort with which unionism was comfortable, Mr Adams added.