Belfast Project Flawed From Beginning - Adams

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has said that the 'Belfast Project', the series of interviews carried out by Boston College as an oral history of the troubles, was flawed from the beginning.

Mr Adams was commenting following the announcement the college would return the tapes of interviews to those who made them.

Mr Adams said: "Everyone has the right to record their history but not at the expense of the lives of others."

He added: "The Boston College Belfast Project was flawed from the beginning. It was conceived by Lord Paul Bew. He proposed Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre despite the fact that both individuals were extremely hostile to myself, Sinn Féin, the peace process and the political process.

"I was not and am not aware of any republican or member of Sinn Féin in support of the peace process who were approached by Anthony McIntyre to be interviewed. On the contrary, the individuals so far revealed as having participated are all hostile to Sinn Féin.

"On RTE last Sunday Anthony McIntyre was forced to concede that perhaps two out of the twenty-six people he interviewed were not anti-Sinn Féin.

This flawed project was exposed when Ed Moloney chose to capitalise on the death of Brendan Hughes and write a book called, 'Voices From The Grave'.

"No republicans, including myself, who were slandered in that book were offered the opportunity before publication to rebut the allegations made against them. Ed Moloney needs to explain that decision. He also needs to explain why, after the project officially closed, he returned to Ireland in 2011 and asked Dolours Price, whom he had currently described as mentally unwell and suffering from PTSD, to be interviewed on DVD, a DVD which he then lodged in the archive.

"It is that interview, Anthony McIntyre's interview with the late Brendan Hughes and his interview with Ivor Bell, which formed the mainstay for my arrest last week.

"I welcome the end of the Boston Belfast Project, indicated by the College's offer to now return the interviews to the interviewees before the securocrats who cannot live with the peace seek to seize the rest of the archive and do mischief."

He continued: "Two standards are operating here. No British soldiers or former RUC officers involved in killings or conspiracies or collusion are subject to the same treatment as republicans.

"Once again this emphasises why we need to deal holistically with our past and why we need a process such as those proposed by Richard Haass and Meghan O'Sullivan."

(MH/JP)