Adams accuses BBC of claiming he has 'no reputation' to libel

Gerry Adams has complained that the BBC is attempting to persuade a libel jury in Dublin that he has "no reputation whatsoever", as part of its defence against his claim for damages.

Mr Adams is giving more evidence in his case against the corporation.

He believes he was defamed in a Spotlight programme and accompanying online article, which, he claims, were wrong to state he sanctioned the murder of Denis Donaldson in 2006. He denies any involvement.

Mr Adams was repeatedly asked about his alleged membership of the IRA's army council – a claim he repeatedly denied – by a barrister for the BBC.

Paul Gallagher SC was cross-examining Mr Adams on Wednesday and referred to multiple books and newspaper stories about Mr Adams.

Mr Adams asked him: "Why are you trying to persuade the jury I have no reputation whatsoever?"

He then claimed Mr Gallagher was attempting to "smother" the 12-person jury in "obscure quotes" from three or four decades ago.

Addressing the allegation about being on the army council, he said he was "irritated" by it, adding: "It's not true".

"Like the allegation in the Spotlight programme, that's a lie."

He said he had never sued over the allegation as his solicitors had advised him he would never get a fair hearing.

At one stage of proceedings, Mr Adams' barrister, Declan Doyle SC, objected to Mr Gallagher's line of questioning, stating the stories he referred to "are not evidence of anything".

The judge, Mr Justice Alexander Owens, then interjected.

"All this blather about Mr Adams being a member of the army council is not something you have to decide," he told the jury.

He said, however, the defendants, the BBC, are entitled to ask Mr Adams about issues related to his public reputation and statements he had made in the past.

Mr Adams was also asked about Say Nothing, the Disney drama series about the IRA, based on the book of the same name by Patrick Radden Keefe.

It depicts Mr Adams as an IRA leader.

He said he had not seen it, adding: "Life's too short to watch Disney, especially when it is dealing with serious issues."

Mr Adams also said he had not read the book, had declined to co-operate with its writer and that it was based on the "discredited" Boston Tapes.

He accepted what has been said about him by the media for years, but stated: "I don't for a second acknowledge the accuracy of the allegations.

"I deny them."

Referring to Mr Gallagher's questioning, he said: "It's more of the same of the same of the same.

"Not a word about Spotlight. How long have we been talking?"

In the case of the action against the BBC, Mr Adams said it showed how seriously he took the allegation contained in the Spotlight programme.

He said he had sued against what he considers to be an issue that "sets aside the huge work that was done" by him and others on the peace process.

He said the import of the programme was that his work to end the campaign of violence "was a scam" and that the IRA army council had authorised the killing of Mr Donaldson and asked Mr Adams for permission.

He claimed this to be a "lie" and "grievous smear" which undermined what the peace process had achieved.

"The war is done. We're all in a better place," Mr Adams stated.

Mr Adams and the BBC's lawyer engaged in exchanges over whether the conflict could have been brought to an end earlier than it was.

Mr Adams was questioned about the Sunningdale Agreement in 1973, the New Ireland Forum in 1984, and the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985.

He rejected suggestions that any of these events could have formed the basis for peace.

Mr Gallagher suggested that if the IRA had given up violence sooner, "it would have been much easier to find a solution and get people to talk together to resolve whatever other issues were there".

Mr Adams said he didn't "minimise the role of the IRA", but that "multiple forces" had been involved in the conflict.

At another point, the barrister asked Mr Adams if the IRA's view was "they could force people into a united Ireland".

Mr Adams replied that he could not speak for the IRA, but added: "I have never thought you could force people into a united Ireland."

Just before proceedings ended for the day, Mr Adams was asked about his dealings with Spotlight prior to its broadcast and why he declined an opportunity to be interviewed about the allegations relating to Mr Donaldson.

Describing the programme as "a straight ambush", he said he was "entitled" not to participate.

"I'm within my right to decide not to co-operate.

"Seeing the way the programme developed I think I was justified," Mr Adams told the court.

He said that Spotlight eventually got a letter from his solicitors denying the allegations before the programme was aired in late 2016.

The case continues on Thursday.

Mr Donaldson was once a key figure in Sinn Féin's rise as a political force in Northern Ireland but he was found murdered in 2006 after it emerged he had been a spy.

He was interned without trial for periods in the 1970s.

After the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, Sinn Féin appointed Mr Donaldson as its key administrator in the party's Stormont offices.

In 2005 Mr Donaldson confessed he was a spy for British intelligence for two decades, before disappearing from Belfast.

He was found dead in a small, run down cottage in Glenties, County Donegal.

Mr Adams was the president of republican party Sinn Féin from 1983 until 2018.

He served as MP in his native Belfast West from 1983 to 1992 and again from 1997 until 2011 before sitting as a TD (Teachta Dála) in the Dáil (Irish parliament) between 2011 and 2020.

Mr Adams led the Sinn Féin delegation during peace talks that eventually brought an end to the Troubles after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

He was detained in the early 1970s when the government in Northern Ireland introduced internment without trial for those suspected of paramilitary involvement.

Mr Adams has consistently denied being a member of the IRA.