Photograph: Aaron Chown/PAThe true significance of the role played by Gerry Adams in the IRA did not become clear until he was arrested in 1973 alongside leading IRA figures, a former British army officer has told a UK court. Witness A told the court that Adams was among a group arrested in a raid on a home in the Lower Falls area of Belfast in July 1973. The group, which included leading IRA member Brendan Hughes, was brought to a nearby RUC station where Adams gave a false name. Former British army colonel Richard Kemp also rejected a charge that he also had “no direct evidence” that linked Adams to IRA membership, or to any bombings. Shane Paul O’Doherty, who ran a letter-bombing campaign for the IRA in the 1970s, told the court that the last IRA member to testify against a senior IRA figure was stabbed in the face and eyes.

Source: The Irish Times March 11, 2026 19:24 UTC