IRA members viewed Adams' denials as 'hypocritical', claims journalist

A veteran investigative journalist has claimed IRA members he spoke to during the Troubles viewed repeated denials by Gerry Adams of ever being in the IRA as "insufferably hypocritical".

John Ware, who made a number of programmes about the conflict, was giving evidence in a civil case against Adams in London.

The former Sinn Féin leader is being sued by John Clark, Jonathan Ganesh and Barry Laycock, who were injured in IRA bombings in London and Manchester in 1973 and 1996.

Adams, 77, strongly denies any involvement and has consistently rejected allegations of IRA membership. He is due to testify this week.

The claimants, who are seeking "vindicatory" damages of £1, allege that Adams is personally culpable for decisions to plant the bombs.

In his witness statement, Ware said he made a documentary for ITV in 1983, which focused on Adams and his election as west Belfast MP.

The journalist said he wanted the programme to look at Adams and his background because he believed that on the basis of his reporting at the time, that Adams was a member of the IRA's ruling army council.

"As such, it was fitting that World in Action (WIA) should look not only at him and his background but also focus on his categorical denials that he was not, nor ever had been, a member of the IRA."

The statement added that Adams' "denials so obviously lacked credibility that they struck me and WIA as a flat lie".

Ware said those he interviewed for the 1983 documentary included former and serving IRA members at the time.

He claimed that the "driving force" behind their decision to speak to him was Adams' "constant denialism" of IRA membership.

"Invariably, some of them thought that Adams had sold out by virtue of his political strategy, but the principal motivation for many Provisional IRA interviewees was their complete and utter astonishment at Adams' brazen, unequivocal, and unambiguous denial of his role in the IRA," the statement said.

"It clearly grated with many of them that when Adams said that he strongly supported the armed struggle, his denial of actual Provisional IRA membership allowed him to avoid taking personal responsibility for their actions.

"In short, they saw Adams' denial of Provisional IRA membership as insufferably hypocritical."

Under cross-examination by Adams' barrister, Ware confirmed he had no first-hand evidence of knowledge about who authorised the Old Bailey, Docklands and Manchester bombings - attacks that are central to the case.

The court also heard that Ware's reporting had exposed the "dissemination of false information" at times by the Army, MI5 and Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) during the Troubles.

Ware said as a journalist, he was "interested in objective truth".

He claimed that evidence from a range of his sources placed Adams on the IRA's ruling army council for more than 30 years, with him only leaving that role in 2005 when an agreement was reached on disarmament.

Ware said it was his view that it was "manifestly not the case that Gerry Adams was never a member of the IRA".

When it was put to him that he was "desperate" for his evidence to play a part in the outcome of the case, Ware dismissed that.

"If the assertion is that I'm here to grandstand - I'm not, I'm categorically not," stated Ware.

The trial continues.