Politics

Gerry Adams says dialogue with Fr Alec Reid began in 1977

Fr Alec Reid brokered talks between Gerry Adams and John Hume
Fr Alec Reid brokered talks between Gerry Adams and John Hume Fr Alec Reid brokered talks between Gerry Adams and John Hume

SINN Féin's Gerry Adams has said his dialogue with Catholic priest Fr Alec Reid, who was considered pivotal to the peace process, began as far back as 1977.

It was around 1988 when the Clonard Redemptorist brokered Mr Adams's talks with then SDLP leader John Hume, which led to the IRA ceasefire six years later.

However, in an interview with the Press Association, Mr Adams said he first began speaking with Fr Reid a decade earlier.

The Sinn Féin TD is stepping down as party president today after 34 years in the role.

In response to a question about regrets, Mr Adams said he regrets that it took until 1994 for the first IRA ceasefire.

"One regret – and I didn't really twig onto this until I had to write, to do a bit of research, I first started talking to Fr Alec Reid around 1977, it was only when I started to write the various stages and Fr Des Wilson was involved as well – that it took so long," he said.

He added: "I regret that it took so long and that those who would condemn, denounce, use moral denunciations as a subterfuge for just not talking, therefore it took almost from 1976/77 to 1994 before there was the first cessation.

"That's an awful long time and a lot of people were killed or injured and traumatised in between."

Mr Adams said when he and Mr Hume eventually met in 1988 they "did what is just the imperative, the primacy of any process (which) is to talk, to listen".

"And out of that came the Hume/Adams principles."

He criticised past UK prime ministers who refused to talk to Sinn Féin, calling them "the stupid ones".

"If you consider that I was an elected official along with others and other elected officials wouldn't talk to us and the British prime ministers handed over the future... to generals, to military bosses, to people who brought in collusion, internment, shoot to kill and all the rest of it and just militarised the situation with all the awful consequences of that."

Mr Adams also claimed that John Major had the chance to help bring peace but failed to do so, while Tony Blair seized the opportunity "with both hands".

Political historian Éamon Phoenix last night said Mr Adams may have been in contact with Fr Reid back in 1977, but a focus on ending the conflict only began in the late 1980s.

"It's very clear from reading state papers that shortly after the Enniskillen bombing, Hume-Adams talks actually opened," he said.

"We do know in March 1978 [Mr Adams] was arrested and charged with IRA membership and he's out of commission for a while.

"I don't know if Adams was thinking of a strategy as early as 1977."

Dr Phoenix added: "It's only when he got to the late 1980s that they got to focusing on ending the conflict."