NEWS
14 February-March 2026
February-March 2026 15
Frank Fitzpatrick joined GERRY
ADAMS for a partisan ramble
Reflections
on friendship
with Martin
McGuinness,
their place in
history, war,
peace and
Ian Paisley
W
hen I opened the door of Áras
Connolly, the first thing that
greeted me was the sound
of teenage girls laughing
and joking in Irish. It took
me by surprise. Inside the exhibition centre, I
found an amused Gerry Adams surrounded by
a clatter of schoolgirls taking selfies.
Looking fit and healthy, and wearing a
Palestinian scarf, he had an aura far younger
than his 75 years. It was a happy scene.
He noticed me in the reception area, gave a
half wave, and then extracted himself from the
impromptu photo shoot.
I had supplied neckties in a professional
capacity to Gerry Adams, as well as to Martin
McGuinness, Bill Clinton and Bertie Ahern,
around the time of the Good Friday Agreement.
But my only in-person meeting with Gerry
Adams had been back in the sulphurous
early 1980s, when he and Martin McGuinness
addressed a large gathering of students in the
JCR of Trinity College Dublin. It was a dicult
time in Ireland, particularly in the North, with
the horror of the Hunger Strikes still to fully
unfold.
After they spoke, I remember Adams as
intense and focused, while McGuinness was
more aable, even joking about me and a few
other students following in the footsteps of
Carson.
Gerry moved towards the deli counter at
Áras Connolly.
GA: “Will you have a bit to eat? I’m going to
have something. What would you like?”. After a
little prevaricating, we settled on two oversized
BLT sandwiches and side salads.
Woman behind the counter: “I’ll bring that over
to ye Gerry.”
GA: “Is this OK for you?
He gestured to a quiet alcove table.
GA: “Thanks for coming up. I’m not in Dublin
as much as I used to be when I was in the Dáil”.
FF: “I was thinking that in a hundred or two
hundred years’ time, not even the briefest
history of militant Irish Republicanism could
be written without mention of: Tone, Pearse,
and Adams, McGuinness”.
It was a big statement, a little hagiographic,
and I dithered, waiting to see his response.
GA: “I’m not sure I’d agree, there were lots
of people involved, lots of people working
together, lots of people who gave their lives”.
FF: “But you must have a sense of your own
importance in Ireland’s republican struggle?”.
GA: “I have a strong sense of myself but I’m not
sure I’d see it in the same way”.
I got no hint of false modesty. His expression
was engaged, not flattered. He listened to what
I was saying while also assessing me, and I
wondered if he had looked at Paisley, Blair, or
Hume in the same way. A boyish smile spread
from his eyes. I told him I had wanted to shake
the hand of history.
GA: “Do you think I’m on my way out?”.
FF: “No.” I chuckled. “No, not at all”.
GA: “Today is the seventh anniversary of
Martin’s death”. The smile left his face. “So, it’s
a significant day for a chat”.
FF: “You must miss him”.
GA: “Aye. I do. Every day. Our families
became great friends — our children, our
grandchildren. There are certain times I miss
him more. Maybe I’d be watching a match on
the telly, and he’d be watching the same match
in Derry. He’d ring me to make some comment
about this or that player”.
FF: “You first met him during the Battle of the
Bogside and you became friends from that first
meeting?” .
GA: “Aye, we hit it o from day one”.
FF: “What was the immediate connection?”
GA: “He was a strong republican — we were
comrades in struggle and we saw things the
same way”.
FF: “He had a very aable way about him? A
great smile”. He nodded in agreement but with
an air of reservation.
GA: “He had a strong personality — he wasn’t
always smiling. I remember one time in
Stormont, him tearing strips o Micheál Martin.
He did the same with that other Minister…
Charlie Flanagan. He lit into him. “Now, he
could be very disarming. He liked people but
he could be fierce too and there were times
when he won arguments just on the force of his
personality. He was thran — stubborn”.
FF: “Eh, can we go back to when you first got
involved and… are you open to talk about
everything?”.
GA: “Yes”. His look said: I’m among friends,
why wouldn’t I?
FF: “You joined Sinn Féin when you were
sixteen, after the Divis Riots in ’64. When
the RUC removed a tricolour from an oce
Sinn Féin was using during the Westminster
elections. Did you join out of a passion to right
a wrong or was it inevitable, given your family
background?”.
GA: He nodded. “It was probably inevitable. It
was a few months after the riots that I joined
but I was already folding leaflets and things
for the elections. Sinn Féin was an illegal
organisation at the time and couldn’t put up
candidates directly”.
FF: “What was your thinking, what was the spur
to you joining?”
GA: “A sense of disbelief that the RUC could
respond so heavy handed to the presence of a
Tricolour. They sent a full column of RUC backed
up by armoured tenders. Hundreds of people
were injured and many, including a mother of
eight, were arrested and imprisoned for up to
six months”.
FF: “How did that disbelief manifest in you?”
GA: “I was asking my friends and others, how
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February-March 2026 15
can they get away with it? And the answer was,
the Special Powers Act”.
FF: “What was your response?”
GA: “I went straight into the public library
and studied a copy of the Special Powers Act.
I wanted to know the extent of it. The Act gave
them the right to do whatever they wanted:
ban any meeting, close any road, take over
any property, demolish any building, imprison
anyone without trial”.
FF: “Was going to the library the fi rst step
on the road to you becoming a leader of
Republicanism? I guess I’m looking for the
seminal moment”.
GA: “I never saw myself as a leader. I see myself
more as a team builder”.
FF: “OK. But you were leader of Sinn Féin for
thirty fi ve years and before that vice president”.
GA: “It was never my intention or plan to go for
the vice president of the party. At the time there
were two vice presidents, and I think that was
changing to one. It was Martin who persuaded
me to go forward”.
FF: “You joined the party in ’64, in response to
the riots. Why didn’t you join the IRA?”
GA: “The IRA wasn’t really functioning at
the time. It was at a low ebb after the Border
Campaign. Sinn Féin was the republican
organisation with an operating structure. It
was an illegal organisation”.
FF: “Am I right in saying that you fi rst met Fr Alec
Reid in 1977 and that this meeting could be
seen as your fi rst step in the Peace Process?”
GA: “Well, no. I met Fr Alec before that, in
the Cages. But my fi rst involvement in peace
mediation was when I was out. I think it was
’73. A feud started with the Stickies — they
thought the Provisionals had planted a bomb
at a Sticky commemoration. As it turned out,
it was Loyalists who planted it, but a feud
kicked o and three men were shot dead in
one weekend. I thought it was madness and
I went to Fr Alec to see if he would mediate. I
had issues with the Church, but it was central
to the community and it had leverage. I
always treated them with respect. We set up a
committee of veteran republicans, going back
to the ’50s and ’40s, and they became the
arbitrators in any disputes that arose among
the republican groups”.
FF: “That’s really interesting. So, your fi rst
orchestrated involvement in establishing a
peace process was between the Provos and
the Stickies?”
GA: “Yes, we managed to bring the two sides to
an understanding”.
FF: “Going back to ’64 again. Sorry, I’m
rambling a bit”.
GA: “That’s OK. We can have a ramble”.
FF: “What did your family say when you told
them you joined Sinn Féin?”
GA: “I don’t know that I did. It wouldn’t have
been a big surprise. Both of my parents were
Republican, from Republican families. It was
a political household and we were always
encouraged to be anti sectarian”.
FF: “Were your brothers and sisters in Sinn
Féin?”.
GA: “Well, they would have been too young
at the time. I’m the eldest. They all became
involved, except the two youngest. One sister
went with the Stickies’.
FF: “How old were you when you left school?”
GA: “I was just trying to fi gure that out the
other day. There’s a piece being written at
the moment and there’s a newspaper ad of
the job I applied for after school. We were
trying to put a date on it. Between fi fteen and
sixteen”.
FF: “You were sixteen and a barman, in ’64,
when you joined Sinn Féin. Is that right? What
was life like for a sixteen year old Gerry Adams
in Belfast before ’69, before the Troubles?”
GA: “Yes. I worked in two bars. The Ark was
a small Protestant bar in a loyalist working
class area. They were honest, hardworking
people. I liked working there. As I said, my
background was non sectarian. I had a huge
interest in roots music, folk music, and I had a
big collection of Orange songs. After the Ark I
worked in the bigger Duke of York pub — it was
full of interesting people”.
FF: “Republicans?”.
GA: “Yes, but there were also internationalists,
communists, lawyers, writers, musicians. It
was a lively place”.
FF: “So, there was an alternative scene in
Belfast before ’69?”.
GA: “Aye, it was lively. I picked up a lot from the
customers, some very interesting characters”.
FF: “Who infl uenced you politically at that
time, who shaped your thoughts?”.
GA: “I had already started reading pamphlets
of various revolutionaries, but James Connolly
was the person that most impressed me”.
FF: “It’s interesting that Paisley had a big part
in instigating the Divis Riots, by threatening to
march on the area and remove the o ending
Tricolour. The same riots that were the catalyst
to you joining Sinn Féin. To an outsider it could
be seen as nearly prophetic to have the two
dominant fi gures of the next forty years lining
up against each other, albeit unwittingly”.
GA: “I wouldn’t have thought about it in that
way. The riots were mostly against the police”.
FF: “Going back to the idea of a starting point
in the Peace Process. What had changed in
you between ’64 and ’77 when you started
talking to Alec Reid about a political process
of peace?”
GA: “Politicising the struggle was always a
priority for me. The alternative was that the war
went on forever — and it could have”.
FF: “Can you remember when you fi rst talked
to Martin McGuinness about pursuing a peace
process?”
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GA: “It wasn’t really like that; politics was
always on our agenda. It was the Brits
who brought the violence to the Catholic
community. The IRA responded”. Young
people today couldn’t understand the level of
discrimination and injustice inflicted on the
Catholic and nationalist community. It was in
housing, education, employment, civil rights,
culture — it was across every aspect of our
lives. It was intolerable, a grave injustice. We
were treated shamefully”.
FF: “I mentioned earlier about you being a
historic figure and that your legacy probably
won’t be fully realised until the academics
write about you after you’re dead”.
GA: “I won’t care what they say about me, I’ll
be dead. I don’t have any great interest in my
legacy”.
FF: “But in the two hundred year period of
militant Irish republicanism — from the 1798
Rebellion to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement
— you and Martin stand out as the only
leaders who managed to turn the militant
republican ship toward a negotiated peace
with the forces of the British Crown”.
GA: “I’m flattered with the comparisons but I
wouldn’t be wholly comfortable with it. There
were a lot of people involved other than Martin
and myself”.
FF: “Is it very important to you that the IRA left
the field intact and undefeated?”.
GA: “Yes, that was important. The peace
process couldn’t have worked unless we
brought all of our side with us”.
FF: “When you were pushing for the peace
process, an alternative way, did you have to
constantly challenge the militant leaders?”
GA: “No, to be fair to all involved, it wasn’t
like that. When certain things were done
that I mightn’t have agreed with, there were
strong words and arguments from both sides.
But we all lived in the same community, we
all had families in the community. We all
wanted peace, but it had to be a fair peace, a
negotiated peace”.
FF: “How did you come to terms with the
bombings?”
He didn’t flinch or break eye contact.
GA: “I’ll always defend the IRA but at times I
was also very critical of the IRA. I was openly
critical of certain operations. I didn’t condone
everything the Army did”.
He seemed open to discuss which
operations he disagreed with. But I held back.
I felt if I chased the forensic detail I might miss
the man.
FF: “What was life like on the Falls or in the
Bogside, during the conflict?”
GA: “You must remember, in republican
areas we were under military occupation
for thirty years. People were tremendously
oppressed. Increasingly, the British Generals
were allowed to have their way. Constant
surveillance. Constant harassment. There are
certainties about war which you don’t have
about peace. In war you simply dehumanise
your opponents and try to kill them. You
don’t have to understand them, just kill them,
imprison them”.
FF: “It’s hard to imagine how the Good Friday
Agreement came out of such an environment”.
GA: “The Good Friday Agreement was a bridge
out of it, and the peace process was the route
to the bridge. We developed an alternative to
armed struggle and that was the cornerstone
of the process”.
FF: “What about the IRA Commanders?”
GA: “When the IRA was given the option of a
just peace they accepted it. They didn’t have
to; the war could have continued”.
FF: “Can we talk about Paisley for a minute?
Initially, he was adamantly opposed to the
Good Friday Agreement and everything Sinn
Féin represented. So, given that you were
poles apart, how did you come to terms in the
end?”
GA: “Well, Martin and myself knew that it
wasn’t going to work, the peace process, if we
couldn’t bring Paisley in”.
FF: “I understand that, but how did that come
about?”
GA: “There was one day in the Chamber
[Stormont], I was talking about some
community issue and I noticed Ian was
listening to me. He asked a question — it
wasn’t supportive, but it was his first public
engagement with Sinn Féin. I haven’t said
this before, but at that time we had our own
back channel to the DUP. We knew he wanted
to be First Minister. And we decided we would
remove every obstacle so he could be First
Minister — because that would allow Martin
to be joint First Minister. I never liked the term
Deputy First Minister. Paisley used to refer to
Martin as his Deputy and that used to irk me.
But Martin took him in his stride, he always
showed him respect as an older man and
Paisley had a great sense of humour. They got
on well”.
FF: “But how did Paisley make the huge
turnabout? Do you think he was mad?”
GA: “No, he wasn’t mad. I think he might have
been a boast person”.
FF: “A boast person? How do you mean?”
GA: “There wasn’t much inside”.
FF: “You enticed him into the process?”
GA: “We felt the only way he’d get involved in
the Good Friday Agreement was if he became
First Minister. And we were OK with that —
because it meant the agreement could work”.
FF: “What was he like to work with?”
GA: “He was straightforward. From the day he
took on the position he was very respectful,
very decent. There was one time some
members of his party were having a go at us in
the media and he told me, that he told them:
‘You can’t be calling a man out of his name
and then expect to do business with him’”.
FF: “How did the last steps come about — him
becoming First Minister?”
GA: “Martin and myself actually told Blair
that Paisley will come to him and say that he
wanted to come onboard but that it wasn’t
the right time. We knew this. And we said to
Blair, when he does come to you, send him
to us. Four months later that’s exactly what
happened. Blair phoned me, I phoned Martin,
and Martin phoned Paisley’s people. That’s
how it came about”.
FF: “Have you ever read ‘The Art of War’ by Sun
Tzu?”
GA: “Eh, yes, I think so. A long time ago”.
FF: “He wrote: ‘Build your enemy a golden
bridge over which he can retreat.’ You gave
Paisley a golden bridge?”
GA: “It was something he needed. And we
needed him — to continue the process”.
FF: “You said at one point that you thought he
was badly treated by his side. That there was
disloyalty”.
GA: “There was. He felt he was badly treated
by his party and by his church. Senior DUP
members often spoke to us about him in very
unkind terms, disparaging terms. We thought
it was a poor show”.
FF: “Loyalty is very important to you?”
GA: “It is. Don’t get me wrong. I’d tear strips
o other Republicans if I felt it was needed and
vice versa. But it was done among ourselves,
we wouldn’t do it in front of others”.
He looked at his watch.
FF: “Listen, if you have something else on,
work away”.
GA: “I have a Zoom meeting, eh, now!”.
I should have organised a tour for you. I don’t
know what I was thinking. How are you for
time?. [He took out his phone] Tom, I have a
friend here from Dublin and I was wondering if
you might be free to take him on a tour. Great.
Go raibh míle maith agat… He’ll be here in half
an hour. Tom is a former Lord Mayor of Belfast
and a former Chair of the party”.
We shook hands again.
“Slán!”.
Frank Fitzpatrick is a Dublin-based writer
FF: Why didn’t you join
the IRA?
GA: The IRA wasn’t really
functioning at the time
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