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New book labels Gerry Adams a 'millionaire'

Malachi O'Dohrerty's 'Gerry Adams – An Unauthorised Life' claims the Sinn Féin leader is a millionaire
Malachi O'Dohrerty's 'Gerry Adams – An Unauthorised Life' claims the Sinn Féin leader is a millionaire Malachi O'Dohrerty's 'Gerry Adams – An Unauthorised Life' claims the Sinn Féin leader is a millionaire

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams is a "millionaire", having published more than a dozen books and made substantial expenses claims as a political representative, a new book claims.

In 'Gerry Adams – A Unauthorised Life', journalist Malachi O'Doherty places the former West Belfast MP among a select group whose net worth exceeds £1 million.

But rather than substantiating the claim with figures or anecdotes, the author simply says he surmised it.

"I didn't do the research into his accounts or records, I don't have that," Mr O'Doherty told the BBC.

"But basically the allowances he received from Westminster adding up to a million pound, the two properties (in west Belfast and Co Donegal), the return on books – if he's not he's not investing his money very well."

However, whereas once being a millionaire meant you were among an elite group of high earners, the label no longer denotes the same level of affluence, with a recent survey showing there are around 14,000 millionaires in the north alone.

Mr O'Doherty's book, published in paperback on Thursday by Faber and Faber, draws on what the publicity material describes as "newly available intelligence and scores of exclusive interviews".

Those who spoke candidly to the author and one-time journalist with The Irish News include former Taoiseach John Bruton and ex-IRA prisoner Richard O'Rawe.

The book plots the Sinn Féin leader's personal and political life from his formative years in Ballymurphy through the Good Friday Agreement negotiations and becoming a TD for Louth.