'I'm satisfied I've done my best' - Gerry Adams

By Deborah McAleese, Press Association

As he prepares to hand over the reins to Mary-Lou McDonald, the 69-year-old barman turned republican leader said he accepts that some people will detest him and others will admire him for his actions throughout his political life.

He said he does not care what he is remembered for because he believes he did the best he could.

"I don't mind. If I thought about it very deeply those people who detest me will continue to detest me. Those people who admire me will continue to admire me.

"All I did in the course of the job, I was doing my best. And I think that is all we can do. I am satisfied I have done my best,'' he said.

Mr Adams, who has always denied being a member of the IRA, has been both hailed as a peacemaker and vilified as a terrorist.

Reflecting upon the thousands of people killed and injured during the Troubles, he said it was something he regrets.

"I regret the fact anyone was killed, particularly those who were killed by the IRA. Of course I do.

"All victims deserve the truth and justice and their families deserve that.

"People will judge me whatever way they want to judge me and I accept that. I have been very moved by the generosity and grace of some people who were really hurt in the conflict.

"That has been quite inspirational, to meet people who were prepared to set aside that hurt for the common good.

"What we all have to do is make sure it never happens again,'' he said.

When asked how he would judge himself, Mr Adams replied: To tell you the truth, I haven't thought of that.

"I am a very good dancer, I sing extremely well, I am a half-decent cook, I have written a wee bit, I like walking, but I'm comfortable in my own skin and I am surrounded by some wonderful people, a great family, my wife, people who love me.

"The most important thing in life is friendship and the most important thing you can give to anyone is time. So I am blessed with friends and all this time,'' he said.

Mr Adams added that he felt blessed'' to still be alive, having survived a number of assassination attempts.

He was once shot in the neck, shoulder and arm as a number of gunmen opened fire on his car in 1984. He also had a hand grenade thrown into his home.

"I have escaped a number of attempts to kill me and so on. I have been blessed by some very incompetent assassins, so there are lots of good things in life,'' he said.

"I regret that it took so long and that those who would condemn, denounce, use moral denunciations as a subterfuge for just not talking, therefore it took almost from 1976/77 to 1994 before there was the first cessation."

ADAMS' "REGRETS"

Mr Adams has also said he regrets that it took until 1994 for the first IRA ceasefire.

In an interview with the Press Association he said he first began dialogue with Catholic priest Father Alec Reid, who was considered pivotal to the Northern Ireland peace process, as far back as 1977.

But it was not until 1988 that Fr Reid brokered Mr Adams' dialogue with the then SDLP leader John Hume, which led to the IRA ceasefire six years later.

The Sinn Fein TD, who will step down on Saturday after 34 years as party president, said he regretted the deaths and injuries caused during those years.

"I regret that it took so long and that those who would condemn, denounce, use moral denunciations as a subterfuge for just not talking, therefore it took almost from 1976/77 to 1994 before there was the first cessation.

"That's an awful long time and a lot of people were killed or injured and traumatised in between.''

He said that when he and Mr Hume eventually met in 1988 they "did what is just the imperative, the primacy of any process (which) is to talk, to listen.''

"And out of that came the Hume/Adams principles,'' he added.

Mr Adams criticised past UK prime ministers who refused to talk to Sinn Fein during the Troubles. He called them "the stupid ones.''

"Probably the toughest (prime ministers to deal with) were the stupid ones who wouldn't talk.

"If you consider that I was an elected official along with others and other elected officials wouldn't talk to us and the British prime ministers handed over the future ... to generals, to military bosses, to people who brought in collusion, internment, shoot to kill and all the rest of it and just militarised the situation with all the awful consequences of that.''

Mr Adams said that John Major had the chance to help bring peace to Northern Ireland but failed to do so, while Tony Blair seized the opportunity "with both hands''.

He also said that while he admired Mr Blair for helping to bring about the Good Friday Agreement he believed the former prime minister had done "dreadful'' things in Iraq and that he and the late Martin McGuinness had warned him against going to war.

"John Major was given an opportunity for peace on a plate and he let the plate drop. Tony Blair had the good sense when he was given the same opportunity that he seized it with both hands.

"But he himself has said reflectively that he couldn't have done what he did if it hadn't been in the early sort of glow of the first early phases of government,'' he said.

"(Blair) helped along with the rest of us to author the Good Friday Agreement. Now he did dreadful things in Iraq and that was folly.

"Myself and Martin McGuinness warned him against the consequences of going into anyone else's country with military force. We actually said to him 'look at what's happened here'. Unfortunately we were right,'' added Mr Adams.

END OF A POLTICAL ERA

Mr Adams is one of the longest serving party leaders in the world, as Sinn Fein president for 34 years.

He is beaten only by Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's ruler for 37 years.

But the changing of the guard has finally come, marking a radical transition for the republican party.

Mr Adams' resignation brings to an end a remarkable career that began when he was a barman at a Belfast pub.

Born in October 1948 in west Belfast, both of his parents came from families that had been active in armed republicanism.

While still a teenager he became an active republican.

He worked as a barman at the Duke of York in Belfast, where he became fascinated by the political gossip among the punters.

He soon became involved in civil rights protests and in 1972, at the age of 24, he was interned - imprisoned without charge.

Despite persistent allegations, Adams has always denied being a member of the IRA.

However in 1972, under the insistence of the IRA leadership, he was released from internment to take part in ceasefire talks with the UK government.

The talks failed and what followed became known as Bloody Friday, when the IRA planted at least 20 bombs across Belfast in one day, killing nine people and injuring 130.

In 1983 Mr Adams replaced Ruairi O Bradaigh as Sinn Fein president and became MP for West Belfast.

He resigned from the position in 2011 to run for election in the Republic of Ireland, where he was elected as a TD (member of the Irish Parliament).

By 1988 Mr Adams had entered into secret peace negotiations with the former leader of the SDLP, John Hume, which helped pave the way for the 1994 IRA ceasefire and eventually the Good Friday Agreement.

In recent years the 69-year-old's political life was overshadowed by his personal life, when it emerged that his brother Liam Adams had raped and sexually abused his daughter.

Mr Adams came under fire for failing to report the allegations of sex abuse to the police.

In 2013 he gave evidence in Belfast Crown Court against his brother, who was later jailed for 16 years.

The following year he was arrested by detectives investigating the 1972 murder of Belfast woman Jean McConville, who was abducted and killed by the IRA in 1972.

He was questioned for four days before being released without charge.

On Saturday, Mr Adams will pass on the Sinn Fein presidency after more than 34 years in the post.

Around 2,000 delegates are expected to gather at the RDS in Dublin for the ratification of Dublin Central TD Ms McDonald as his successor.

Sinn Fein's Northern Ireland leader, Michelle O'Neill, will be proposed for the vice-president position

To some, Gerry Adams is hailed as a visionary and a peacemaker, to others he is vilified as a terrorist.

As he steps out of the limelight, a new era of Irish politics will begin without him.