Each episode of the Netflix adaptation of Patrick Radden Keefe’s book Say Nothing, which addresses the IRA’s tactic of disappearing alleged informers, ends with a disclaimer: “Gerry Adams has always denied being a member of the IRA or participating in any IRA violence”. The series suggests Adams’s role was as an IRA commander in Belfast at the time.
A conviction for IRA membership is punishable by up to 14 years in prison under UK law. While Adams would only serve two years under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement if he were to admit to IRA membership and be successfully prosecuted, he is 76 years old. I know what I would advise if I were his lawyer.
The series has become popular just as rightwing thinktank Policy Exchange produced a report on the fact that Adams and up to 400 others could be due compensation from the British government for their detention during the Troubles. This followed a Supreme Court decision that their internment without trial in the 1970s was legally flawed.
