A chara, – So Gerry Adams has been released after four days of questioning, to which he submitted himself voluntarily. According to your news report (Front Page, May 5th), the PSNI said he was "released pending a report" to Northern Ireland's Public Prosecution Service.
This is remarkable policework indeed, since it doesn’t appear that Mr Adams has made any admissions, there surely is no forensic evidence, and that statements that may refer to his supposed involvement were made under a promise of anonymity, not under oath, by people who admitted their own roles but who are now dead.
This development has been praised by the governments on both sides of the Irish Sea, and by the Justice Minister in Northern Ireland.
Universally it has been said that the 40-year time lapse, Mr Adams’s status as the leader of a political party and elected TD, and indeed his pivotal role in the peace process, should not be taken into consideration when making decisions about the case.
Would it now be too much to hope that senior British figures who could shed some light on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings might travel to Dublin and surrender themselves? Perhaps the anonymity granted to the soldiers who testified to the very costly Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday might also be waived to facilitate prosecutions? Maybe Northern Secretary Theresa Villiers might now reconsider her decision not to allow an inquiry into the Ballymurphy killings. – Is mise,
DÁIRE Mag CUILL,
Páirc na Cabraí,
Baile Átha Cliath 7.
Sir, – Last autumn, the attorney general in Northern Ireland suggested that a line be drawn beyond which people who were involved in the crimes associated with the period we term “The Troubles” would not face prosecution. Sinn Féin rejected this suggestion, presumably because it would grant an amnesty to members of the security forces. Does it now regret its position? – Yours, etc,
MARGARET LEE,
Ahane,
Newport,
Co Tipperary.
Sir, – The circumstances that see Sinn Féin retain its popularity in defiance of virtually any revelation about its membership have arisen, at least partially, from the persistent failure of mainstream politics in Ireland. – Yours, etc,
CHRISTIAN MORRIS,
Claremont Road,
Howth,
Dublin 13.
Sir, – I share Ruth Lawlor’s concern (May 3rd) about the damage done to the academic record of history by the legal profession within the US legal system.
Happily the legal system provides the solution. In future, academics need only bring along a lawyer, or they could gain a legal qualification. The person giving the historical information hires the academic or the accompanying lawyer and so the information is covered by attorney-client privilege, and no court would overturn that. – Yours, etc,
DAVID DOYLE,
Birchfield Park,
Goatstown, Dublin 14.
Sir, – Everybody knows the Aesop fable. The British scorpion was given a lift by the Adams frog. It’s in their nature, you know! – Yours, etc,
KEITH NOLAN,
Caldragh,
Carrick-on-Shannon,
Co Leitrim.
Sir, – The mural in Belfast of Gerry Adams shown in Saturday’s paper is a very professional piece of work. Is it perhaps a Northern Banksy? – Yours, etc,
GER DORGAN,
Ardbeg Park,
Artane,
Dublin 5.