The Vilification Of Gerry Adams

You either love the guy or hate the guy. I just like him. One thing is absolute: there would have been no peace in Northern Ireland without him while others have tried to claim the fame for it, and not least shifty Bertie and the rabid mad cleric, Ian Paisley. But the vilification of Gerry Adams goes on and that of his party, Sinn Fein, and it will not stop as Bertie Ahern is almost forgotten in what he did.

Bertie Ahern and Gerry Adams are polar opposites. Gerry looks good in a suit while Bertie looks like he lives in one. He keeps the Armai suits for special occasions. Their politics are different. Bertie was always in it for the money, despite having no bank account, that anyone has found anyway, while Gerry was in it to make Ireland a better place. Yes, that sounds insane but it is the truth. Bertie made sure it was a lot poorer place after leaving his party just before he would have been fired, with a lot of work left to do. It was the day the party died too and not just theirs.

He did not even need a digout for his reward for the corruption and bankrupting of the State was huge. A massive €3000 weekly pension and a thank you cheque for over €300,000 on his way out the back door where even tradesmen dare not go. All borrowed money to be repaid by the people he bankrupted. He definitely needs a bank account now. Shifty Bertie indeed, and not a hair on his head touched or a mark on his conscience left. In fact, come to think of it, I hate him. Maybe that was a bit strong but I most assuredly do not like him.

Back to Gerry. He has had numerous threats made against his life and not all of them on the football pitch. Then the threats became real and they did try to take his life, more than once or twice. The threats were, of course, from the erstwhile chums of Ian Paisley along with the RUC and the alphabet soup of all the other soccer hooligans in the hood carrying tattoos on their dense heads with a AK47 in one hand and a pint of beer in the other, in case you had misunderstood or carried a different point of view. Why does he keep going? Yet it looks like Paisley will be made, you just wait and see, a fully paid up member of the Catholic Church and a Saint replete with his own set of wings. What does he do it for? It is not for the pension surely because at the height of the troubles Gerry probably bet he would not be around to collect one.

Gerry has a bank account, well, I don’t really know, but in the interest of fairness and balance, it is at least likely. If he was in it for the money he would have been long gone by now and living safely in some bog neck town where nothing much happens and a bald tyre is a major event, and unless he has a few offshore accounts he is as rich and as poor as the most of us in this green land. You will not find sticky fingers here and he is lucky that he still has them in any case.

Still, he has been accused of child abuse, as an accessory at least after the fact, but the media are still not satisfied and want him to be the actual abuser. They want him to be the rapist of Maria Cahill and will not let truth get in the way of a good story. Still, Gerry soldiers on and any journalist that wants to keep their job wants to put a water pistol in his hands if not the real thing so they can get a pension. Gerry's past though can tell you where he is going.

There is little that has not already been done to Gerry Adams. He is used to being vilified, being threatened, being lied to and being lied about. They say he even has something to do with the dodgy weather. But the lies about him are in meltdown and the people can see it at last because the media is being attacked by the truth like never before for the people themselves are part of an alternate media. He is also above it and has shown support to those that needed it, shown strength when everyone else had left the field, shown courage when it was sorely lacking across this land. He does not need Ireland as much as it now needs him and his party. But Gerry will only go and retire when he wants to, and if nothing else that has been proven over and over again. He is not for turning either.

Gerry Adams embraced the peace and so did everyone else and if he and his party get into Government they should be given the chance to change the fortunes of Ireland. And if they do not succeed where everyone else has already failed, then they should be given the proverbial boot as well.

Our system here is called democracy and it is the worst form of government except for all the other ones that have been tried from time to time as Winston Churchill put it, but it is all we got and it is time for Gerry Adams to step up to the plate or at least be allowed to if he is chosen by the people. And by the looks of things, that is becoming a reality like never before.

Should we be afraid? I am more afraid of my poodle, outside of him there is nothing to be afraid of.

Barry Clifford