Talk:Gerry Adams

As I have pointed out, there is no need accusations from primary references to be included when we already cite much more reliable secondary references, who have listened to what people like Price, Hughes et al say and made their determination accordingly. This is a position backed up by the request for comment at Talk:Gerry Adams/Archive 3#Request for Comment:Alleged IRA Membership, in particular "I can see citing a couple instances as examples of evidence and leaving the rest as references, but a laundry list of purported evidence does not belong here" and "Yes, exactly. It's a notable allegation denied by the subject, we should present it in those terms, in the simplest way possible and using the two or three best sources, and leave it at that" (which were the only responses!). "Person x says so too" adds nothing of value to what the article already says. FDW777 (talk) 13:30, 4 November 2023 (UTC)

User:FDW777 they are different allegations by different people in a RS and so worthy of inclusion. You do seem very keen to remove allegations of Adams' IRA involvement: . A discussion from 2007 doesn't necessarily represent current consensus. Mztourist (talk) 06:52, 5 November 2023 (UTC)

No, they are the same allegation. You might also want to look at the history of this article, and see exactly who it is that fleshed out the section here so it became more about Adams' alleged trajectory through the IRA and less of a "this person says he was in the IRA, and so does this person, and this person, and this person, and this person" to the point of tedium. FDW777 (talk) 15:26, 7 November 2023 (UTC)

Come on, man. Readers should be able to see what actual IRA members say about Adams' involvement. Anything less is just whitewashing. Jessintime (talk) 17:16, 7 November 2023 (UTC)

See the request for comment regarding laundry lists of accusers/evidence. Think differently? Start a new request for comment. FDW777 (talk) 14:25, 9 November 2023 (UTC)

I've removed what can only be described as a "laundry list" of additonal accusers, which flew in the face of the "using the two or three best sources" reply during the request for comment. Also I have removed the following addition, pending discussuion.

• Almost all academics and researchers agree Adams was in the IRA and on his history in the organisation. They concur that he joined the IRA in the 1960s, was OC of the 2nd battalion of the Belfast Brigade from 1971-1972, became adjutant for the brigade in 1972, and had become OC of the brigade by 1973.^[1][2] Many also believe that Adams went on to become a key figure in the IRA's senior leadership, and that he joined the IRA Army Council in 1977 and remained in it for a significant period.^[1][2]

This is essentially redundant to the current content, since it makes no sense to list many academics and researchers, then hammer it home with "Almost all academics and researchers agree Adams was in the IRA and on his history in the organisation". If anything, I believe this should replace the current text not be used in addition to it. However without qutes from the sources cited I am unable to say if they cover the entirety of the existing text, so if quotes can be provided that would be helpful.

Per WP:ONUS please do not restore this text, especially since it has been the subject of a request for comment. Kathleen's bike (talk) 14:27, 10 March 2024 (UTC)

Hi @Kathleen's bike, I hope you're doing well!

I've just seen your comment here after making edits to Gerry_Adams#IRA_membership_allegations. I remembered making some edits in the past that I thought seemed to have been reversed, so checked the edit history and only then saw your revert of them, which is why I've just seen your comment here now. Now that I've seen your post here, I won't make any more edits until after discussing them first.

I'm sorry for inadvertently violating your principle to avoid adding a "laundry list" of additional accusers by listing former IRA members who have stated Adams was also a member of the organisation. However, I think the fact that multiple former IRA members, including some senior ones, have stated Adams was in the IRA warrants coverage, so perhaps we could state this fact without listing many or any of their names?

Do you think it would be useful to add the following information from The New Yorker?

> Moreover, Adams was described as "an active Belfast military commander" in a 1973 US diplomatic cable, he has been pictured wearing an IRA uniform at a funeral, and represented the IRA during negotiations with the British government on numerous occasions, including one in which the IRA demanded he was first released before negotiations could take place.^[3]

I was thinking of also saying that multiple former government officials also have stated Adams was in the IRA, for example civil servant Philip Woodfield,^[4] MI6 officer Frank Steele,^[5] Irish Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Michael McDowell,^[6] former Irish taoiseach, Bertie Ahern,^[7][8] and diplomat Paul Lever.^[9] Again, it might be better to make this point without listing many or any specific names?

I agree that some of my previous edit you posted above is redundant. I think some of it, however, would provide useful context on Adams' alleged IRA involvement not seen elsewhere in the article. I think inserting a single sentence could add useful information to the beginning of the second paragraph, as follows:

Practically all academics agree that Adams joined the IRA in the 1960s, was Officer commanding (OC) of the 2nd battalion of the Belfast Brigade from 1971-1972, became adjutant for the brigade in 1972, and had become OC of the brigade by 1973.^[10][11] Moloney and Taylor state that Adams became the IRA's Chief of Staff following the arrest of Seamus Twomey....

Please could you let me know what you think about these proposed changes?

Thank you :) 13tez (talk) 02:36, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

Hi, I cannot track down citations 21^[1] and 22^[2]. I have removed content cited to these articles per BLP. I have checked britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk (had other articles from that day's paper, search for Adams name turned up nothing), irishnewsarchive.com (archive starts in 1976), the Telegraphs own archive (no results for either article title) and Proquest (also nothing). I of course also tried a simple Google search. If someone can provide a copy of these sources or annother RS saying Adams took part in rioting in late 60's or early 70's that would be helpful. Several sources^[3] note that he was involved with protests or activism, but I can't find a good source on his invovlement in rioting. The closest I could find was Britannica which noted Born into a strongly republican family, Adams became involved in predominantly Roman Catholic civil rights protests in Belfast, Northern Ireland, which became increasingly violent in the late 1960s,^[4] but this feels very SYNTHY to make specific criminal allegations against living persons.

CamAnders (talk) 02:53, 27 November 2025 (UTC)