LOUTH:SINN FÉIN president Gerry Adams has reiterated that he had "nothing to do" with the kidnapping and death of Jean McConville.
He said he had already condemned and apologised for it because “Irish republicans committed that offence”.
Mrs McConville was abducted by the IRA from her home in 1972, killed and secretly buried in Co Louth. Her daughter Helen McKendry has campaigned against the Sinn Féin leader’s decision to run in the general election in Louth, claiming he ordered her mother’s abduction and killing.
Ms McKendry handed out leaflets in Dundalk on Saturday, asking the electorate not to support the Sinn Féin leader in the election.
She and her husband Séamus McKendry launched the campaign that resulted in the IRA giving the locations of the remains of the so-called “disappeared” in the Northern conflict.
Mr Adams, who has repeatedly denied membership of the IRA, said yesterday that he respected the family’s right to protest.
“I have to say that, in whatever strongest way possible that I can articulate it, I had nothing to do with the abduction and killing of that unfortunate woman.
“I have already condemned it. I have apologised for it because Irish republicans committed that offence.”
He was speaking in Dublin outside Anglo Irish Bank as he launched a billboard campaign against the payment of €30.6 billion in bank debt.
The poster states: “Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour want to put €30.6 billion into toxic banks like Anglo. It’s not too late to stop this. Vótáil Sinn Féin.”
The Sinn Féin president called on the political parties to agree to a referendum on payments to toxic banks. He said the electorate would have to pay so they should have their say on the issue.
Asked about the McConville family protest, Mr Adams said: “I understand and respect their right to protest. But this is a very, very serious charge which is at the very core of me as an Irish republican and I’ve been very straightforward in trying to deal with it and as best I can.”
He said he had been “very compassionate about the family because I’ve met the family like I’ve met many, many families who have been bereaved through the conflict.”
Asked if he was concerned that his campaign and that of Sinn Féin were being overshadowed by the controversy about Mrs McConville’s death, he said “the voters will decide on all that”.
Pressed about media claims that rather than topping the poll in Louth he would be struggling for the last seat, he said: “I didn’t come with high hopes of doing anything other than going forward and seeking a mandate and respect absolutely what the people say about it.”
He also declined to comment on the likely number of seats for Sinn Féin after the election. “I have never speculated on any outcome of any election that I’ve been involved in and I’ve been involved in elections since the Bobby Sands election.”
Accompanied by Dublin Central candidate Mary Lou McDonald and Dublin South Central candidate Aengus Ó Snodaigh, he said “the Irish people are in a fix because of bad decisions taken by our own Government and other parties. We’re also in a fix because of the way the big banks loaded their debts and encouraged the boom.”
He said part of the solution was for the EU and German “bankmeisters” to “understand that Ireland cannot afford this and far better for it to be dealt with now on Irish terms than to be continuing the way it’s going and we all end up in a huge crisis in a year or two years’ time.”
