I was never in the IRA, Gerry Adams tells London court

Gerry Adams, one of Northern Ireland’s best-known political figures, again denied being a member of the paramilitary Irish Republican Army while giving evidence at London’s High Court.

The former leader of Sinn Fein, formerly the political wing of the IRA and now the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, is fighting a civil case aimed at holding him responsible for three bombings in Britain in the 1970s and 1990s.

Adams has long faced accusations that he was a member of the Provisional IRA, including from former members of the paramilitary group, which he has always denied.

The 77-year-old entered the witness box on Tuesday and wished the judge a “very happy St. Patrick’s Day” before being grilled by his lawyer Edward Craven about how he joined Sinn Fein when it was banned in 1964.

He is being sued by three people injured in three bombings: one at London’s Old Bailey in 1973, the PIRA’s first bombing on mainland Britain, and two explosions in 1996 targeting London’s Docklands and Manchester. They are seeking a finding on the balance of probabilities that Adams, as a senior member of the PIRA, was personally liable.

However, in his written witness statement, Adams said: “I have never been a member of the IRA or the Army Council. … I have never held any rank or role within the IRA, including on the IRA’s Army Council.

“I have never held a ‘command and control role’ in the IRA and I have never been a senior person, let alone the most senior person, in the IRA.”

Adams became leader of Sinn Fein in 1983 and established himself as the best-known face of the movement aimed at ending British rule in Northern Ireland.