Gerry Adams播客

In March 1984 I was shot as I and four friends drove from Belfast Court. We were driving up May St. at the back of the City Hall when our car was fired on from a passing vehicle. Four of us – myself, Sean Keenan, Joe Keenan, and Kevin Rooney - were hit. Bob Murray escaped injury. I was wounded in the neck, shoulder and upper body. We were blessed b…

Ar Slí An Fhirinne. It’s the age we’re at I tell myself and my declining peer group as we attend funeral after funeral this last wee while. The great wheel of life is now turning for our generation. This phase started with Colette’s sister Martha. Martha was eighty five. The matriarch of the Mallon family. A kind, strong, gentle woman who lived on …

The People’s Priest: Fr. Des Wilson died in November 2019. I first met him in 1968. His long life was dedicated to helping people. During the years of conflict, he stood with the Upper Springfield community against the aggression and violence of the British state forces. He gave comfort and solidarity to those in need and was hugely respected and l…

Candidatitis: This syndrome is capable of moving even the most rational aspirant or shy wallflower into a state of extreme self belief. It strikes without warning, is no respecter of gender, and can infect the lowly municipal hopeful, the aspiring Parliamentarian, as well as the lofty presidential wannabe. Solidarity with Palestinian people I want …

Stardust families demand truth The inquest into the Stardust disaster opened in Dublin last week. The list of the dead from that terrible event in February 1981 is heartbreakingly long. The families of the 48 young people who died have been reading poignant pen portraits of their loved ones into the record of the inquest. All of those who were kill…

Agreement 25 The three days of the conference to mark Agreement 25 at Queens University, a quarter of a century after the Good Friday Agreement, was an opportunity to meet again many of those who were there when the Agreement was thrashed out in 1998. I was particularly happy to see George Mitchell. He was in great form and for me his speech was th…

Standing up for rights Among those who attended the Easter Sunday commemoration in Belfast two weeks ago was John Montgomery. I haven’t seen John in many years and it was a delight to meet him again. John is originally from St. James’ in west Belfast.Thirty years ago John was the Chairperson of the Ballyfermot Community Association. Those were diff…

Back in the USA The 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement has attracted considerable national and international interest in recent weeks. Part of this involved me travelling last week once again to the USA. It must be four years since I was last there. While a lot has changed politically in that time both here and in the U.S. some things ne…

A special podcast by Gerry Adams part 2. Marking the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. Gerry’s guests include Mitchel McLaughlin, Bairbre De Brún and Gerry Kelly who all involved in the negotiations at that time..由Gerry Adams

I am writing my notes for this week's podcast in New York. Richard and I were there last weekend working on my remarks for Monday night when President Bill Clinton and I will share reflections on the Good Friday Agreement negotiations and developments since then. I will return to this in next week’s column. President Clinton played a critical role …

Myself, Mitchel McLaughlin, Bairbre De Brún and Gerry Kelly who all involved in the negotiations at that time, reflect on the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.由Gerry Adams

The Good Friday Agreement protects everyone At the beginning of the month Jeffrey Donaldson established a panel, which includes Peter Robinson, Arlene Foster and some business and legal people, to advise on the DUP’s approach to the Windsor Framework. Some have interpreted this as Donaldson buying time until the other side of the local government e…

Talking about Martin McGuinness Tuesday was the sixth anniversary of the death of my friend and comrade Martin McGuinness. I travelled to the Derry City Hotel that evening for a public conversation about my relationship with Martin with Roy Greenslade. Roy is an author, broadcaster and journalist who during a long and distinguished career has held …

Celebrating St. Patrick and the GFA This week Uachtarán Shinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald and Leas Uachtarán Michelle O’Neill will be in the USA for the St. Patrick’s Day events. St. Patrick’s Day or week is regular part of the annual calendar for the Irish diaspora everywhere but especially in the USA. Mary Lou and Michelle and Conor Murphy will engage…

Macalla na mBán. This week’s column is dedicated to women. It includes a guest piece by Bairbre de Brún, former MLA and Minister. Wednesday was International Women’s Day. It is a day set aside to celebrate the advances of women and their contribution to society and to draw attention to the inequalities and injustices still experienced by them. In t…

The Story of Moore Street Last week the Moore Street Preservation Trust held an Urgent Public Meeting in Liberty Hall in Dublin to discuss the crisis surrounding the future development of the Moore St. Battlefield site and the threat posed to these historic 1916 laneways by a developer. The meeting was chaired by Christina McLoughlin who is the nie…

Make Your Mind Up Time. As I write this column the rumours are rife that the European Commission and the British government are close to an agreement – maybe – on the Protocol. It could be this week –it could be next week – it could be tomorrow. It may be done by the time you get to read this. The British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak added to the spe…

Celebrating with Alex and Fra Republicans don’t say thank you often enough to each other. Fra McCann and Alex Maskey are 50 year activists. That is they have both been involved in the struggle for over 50 years. The two of them stepped down from the Assembly two years ago. Fra was replaced by Aisling Reilly and Alex by Danny Baker. Alex still remai…

Moore St belongs to the people The importance of the Moore Street 1916 Battlefield site was best summed up by Uachtarán na hÉireann Michael D Higgins who said: “This area belongs to no one individual, group or party. It belongs to the people”. If you want to protect this hugely important part of our revolutionary history with its many exceptional l…

The Duke of York The recent cold snap and the sniffles of many of my associates reminded me of when I was a young curate in The Duke of York pub in Commercial Court in Belfast in the mid 1960s. In those days a hot whiskey was the cure for colds of all kinds. In the Dukes a ‘Hot Coleraine’ was the much prized preference of hot whiskey drinkers wheth…

TREES I want to recommend that you make friends with a tree. Any tree. Pick one in your local park or glen or up on a mountain. Get up close and friendly with it. Or admire the very welcome trees now being planted along our urban roads and streets. Make friends with one of them. And you don’t have to be monogamous. You can love lots of trees. In lo…

BE PREPARED FOR MORE STUPIDITIES I considered ignoring the British Government’s exclusion of the Sinn Féin President from the recent talks. Then I thought why should I? Stupidity like this needs highlighted. For me it is proof, once again, of what democrats here are up against. This column could analyse the statements from the current British Secre…

Don’t Let The Old Man In I'VE been at a lot of funerals recently. It seems someone from my circle of friends, comrades, associates or neighbours is dying every week this last wee while. And sometimes more often than that. I console myself by reminding myself that it's the age I’m at. People were always dying. That’s part of the circle of life. But …

2022 should be marked down as the year when we eventually got rid of the last of England’s Penal Laws imposed upon us in 1737. Well done An Dream Dearg and everyone else for bringing colour, vitality, good humour, cheerfulness, success and fun to this achievement. Leanagaí ar aghaigh.由Gerry Adams

由Gerry Adams

Beannachtaí daoibhse go leir. Have a great Christmas, dear readers. Thanks and benedictions also to the Belfast Media Group team. Christmas can be a sad and stressful time for some people. Be mindful of them, my friends. Reach out to neighbours and others who may not be as lucky as we are. I’m strongly against the commercialism of Christmas. I love…

THE Sinn Féin building on the Falls Road at the corner of Sevastopol St. is internationally famous for its mural of Bobby Sands. Less well known is the fact that the building is dedicated to the memory of another Irish republican, Joe McKelvey.由Gerry Adams

A massacre in Instalments AS I write this column the number of Palestinians killed this year by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza strip is 207. By the time it is published in a few days time that number will have increased. Last Friday I watched online video of the last moments of Ammar Mufleh, aged …

Marie Ferris and Martin. A week or so ago on November 18 in Killarney 820 republicans broke bread together in honour of Martin and Marie Ferris. It was a great night. Marie Ferris is one of my heroes. A warrior woman. An activist. A mammy. A mamó. And the wife of Martin Ferris. Martin is one of my heros as well. He is as tough as old boots. As stro…

Words. In Ireland the English which we use is Hiberno English. We use Irish language constructions a lot as well as many Irish words or words based on Irish words. As part of the colonisation of our island people London tried to destroy our native culture, music, dance and language. They failed and we hibernised the language they forced on us. In U…

Thank You Briege and Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin Friends from far and near were in the Four Seasons Hotel in Monaghan last Saturday night for a special testimonial event for my old friend and comrade Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin. Mary Lou McDonald was there to remind us of Caoimhghín’s long and distinguished life of activism for over 40 years. It was also an oppo…

Time to Extend Presidential Vote to North and Diaspora Last week I wrote about the threat posed to our world by climate change. The international climate change conference - COP 27 – which commenced in Egypt on Sunday is viewed by many as the world’s last real opportunity to reverse this threat. This year has been especially dangerous with a mixtur…

Good Advice? I thought I might pass on a random sample of some of the personal advice I have been given over the years. You dear reader might, like me, benefit from some of it. Or perhaps not. Brazil The successful election in Brazil of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (popularly called Lula) has raised hopes that the huge damage being do…

Conway Mill – 40th birthday Conway Mill has been at the heart of west Belfast for over almost 200 years. First as a hard place of work for generations of local people, mainly women, and then as a community hub providing education and employment opportunities. Last week the Mill celebrated its 40th birthday promoting, supporting and facilitating sma…

Wee Baby Brothers My mother, Annie, gave birth to thirteen of us. I am the oldest. Then came Margaret, Paddy, Ann, Frances, Liam, Jim and David, Sean and his twin Brendan, Maura, Deirdre and Dominic. We are probably not all listed here in proper chronological order. I rarely get anyone’s birthday right. It’s hard to keep track. We are now reduced t…

Cresslough I know Creeslough well. I have friends who live there. Outside the village. At both ends. My heart goes out to the families of the ten people who were killed last Friday. Same old Story Last Saturday’s DUP party conference saw it behave as unionist parties have usually behaved. Within their own little bubble. It’s the same old story. The…

Together we Can Ireland’s Future is well named. Its landmark event last Saturday in Dublin was all about the future. Saturday’s conference was an ambitious project. Over thirty participants addressed 5,000 citizens. Ten political parties with five party leaders along with leaders from civic society and the Arts talking about their desire to achieve…

由Gerry Adams

We are not invisible” – Springhill families Last week the family of Loughlin Maginn settled a case against the British Ministry of Defence and the PSNI over his murder by the UDA in August 1989. While it had been widely accepted for the previous 20 years that collusion between the British Army, RUC and unionist paramilitaries was an integral part o…

The English Monarchy: A Tolerance of Differences At the same time I have no time for hierarchies, aristocrats or royalty, whether they are political, religious, secular or industrial. They are all about power for elites. No one should have an entitlement to a life of privilege and wealth because they are deemed to be divine rulers. I believe in equ…

Another British PM closer to Unity Liz Truss is now the leader of the Conservative Party and British Prime Minister. No real surprise there. She is the fourth leader of the Tories in six years. And as each has tried and failed to reshape Britain to a post Brexit world Tory government policy – especially under Johnson - has shifted further and furth…

Belfast People's Assembly Last summer Sinn Féin announced the setting up of a ‘Commission on the Future of Ireland.’ The Commission is a unique and ambitious initiative which includes a series of Peoples’ Assemblies under the broad slogan - ‘The New Ireland is for Everyone – Have Your Say.’ On 12 October - the inaugural first public meeting of the …

National Hunger Strike March Comhgairdheas to all of those who organised and participated in Sunday’s Belfast march to remember the hunger strikers of this and previous phases of struggle. Thousands came from all over Ireland to take part. I met comrades from Meath and Mayo and Dublin and Derry. The families of the hunger strikers had pride of plac…

The Women of Antrim. Congratulations to Antrim Ladies All Ireland Football Champions 2022 and Antrim’s All Ireland Camogie Champions. Na mná abú. The Women of Armagh. Last Friday, there was standing room only in The Felons as Richard McAuley and I were joined by former Armagh POWs Síle Darragh, Máire Cush and Martina Anderson for the launch of a ne…

A Windfall Tax urgently needed The cost of living crisis is taking a terrible toll on families. Food and energy bills are increasing at a phenomenal rate pushing more and more people into debt and poverty. The ready excuse trotted out by governments and most of the media to explain this dire situation is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing…

The Ark The Ark wasn't a big public house. Situated at the corner of Broadbent Street on the Old Lodge Road it consisted of a public bar, partitioned from a more discreet backroom and a snug. That was it. A backdrop of shelved whiskey bottles fronted by a no-nonsense wooden counter which separated myself and the only other barman from the clientele…

SWEETS I USED TO KNOW There was a Sweetie Shop across from Saint Finian’s School, just above Leeson Street on the Falls Road. It had a large advertisement for Blue Bird Toffees as part of its frontage. It was an attractive feature boasting an iconic Blue Bird in full flight. I call this fine establishment a sweetie shop because my recollection, whi…

I love benches. I like to spend as much time as I can outdoors. Now in case I give the wrong impression let me make it clear that I am not all the time walking or hiking. I do do that sometimes but mostly I just sit. That’s why I like benches. I have one I inherited from our old neighbour Billy McCulloch. Truth to tell I inherited only the metal en…

Scots set date for independence referandum. The Government of Scotland has moved decisively by setting the date for a referendum on sovereignty and independence. 19 October 2023 is that date. Its decision has already won support among Scottish voters. A poll published recently in the Times showed that those for and against independence are neck and…

Do Your Job Leo! Some of our political leaders in Dublin repeatedly reduce their offices to the status of an observer. This affects many matters which fall within their responsibility. Quite often we are treated to commentary from a government Minister on public services or the lack of them, homelessness or the cost of living crisis. It is as if th…