Pressure on Adams grows as secret tapes handed to police

Pressure on Adams grows as secret tapes handed to police
CORMAC MCQUINN
Irish Independent
08 JULY 2013

THE recordings of secret interviews with the late IRA bomber Dolours Price have been handed over to police in the North investigating the disappearance of Belfast mother-of-10 Jean McConville.

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers travelled to the US to collect the controversial tapes from Boston College, which are understood to include allegations that Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams ordered Ms McConville’s kidnapping and killing.

A spokesperson for Mr Adams said: “Gerry Adams has consistently rejected the accusations made by anti-peace process dissidents. The issue is a matter for the PSNI and Boston College.”

Despite the renewed focus on Ms Price’s claims that Mr Adams was her IRA Officer Commanding in the early 1970s, and was responsible for ordering Ms McConville’s disappearance, he appeared to be in light-hearted form yesterday.

He used his Twitter feed to regale followers about the glorious weather, posting the lyrics of the song ‘You Are My Sunshine’.

The Louth TD tweeted that he decided not to watch the Leinster hurling final because the weather was too good but indicated he’d catch the highlights later with a “pint of plain”.

Mr Adams has consistently denied ever being a member of the IRA. He did not respond to requests for comment on the release of the Boston College tapes to the PSNI last night.

DETECTIVES

A police spokesman said two detectives from the serious crime branch had taken possession of materials authorised by the United States Supreme Court as part of their investigation into Ms McConville’s murder. “The officers will return to Northern Ireland to assess the material and continue with their inquiries,” a spokesman said.

Ms Price died in January this year. She has said she made the claims about Mr Adams’s position in the IRA and alleged ordering of Ms McConville’s disappearance and killing in an interview with the Boston College academics who compiled an oral history of the Troubles.

The recordings were made on the condition that confidentiality would be guaranteed until after the death of the republican and loyalist paramilitaries who took part in the interviews.

Boston College researchers last year tried to block the PSNI’s attempts to secure the recordings but lost the case in the US Supreme Court.

They claimed that the tapes did not contain Ms Price making allegations that Mr Adams ordered the kidnapping of Ms McConville.