Former Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has accused the British government of “hypocrisy and duplicity over its decision to retrospectively change a law which a Conservative government broke over 50 years ago, while introducing a new law to protect its own armed forces from the legal consequences of their criminal actions.”
Mr. Adams said, “In 2020 the British Supreme Court determined that I was wrongfully interned for a period in the 1970s. The decision by the Court was explicit. Interim Custody Orders not authorised and approved by the Secretary of State were illegal. It is believed that upwards of 400 other internees are similarly affected.
“The British government, which knew it was in the wrong at that time, knowingly broke its own law.
“In January Keir Starmer made it clear that he would look at ‘every conceivable way’ to ensure that I and others impacted by this did not receive compensation.
“Today, at the stroke of a pen what was illegal five decades ago has been made legal as the British state changes the rules to suit its own agenda and protect its own military personnel.
“That an Irish government would collude in this is disgraceful.
“The British military was involved in the Dublin-Monaghan bombings. A Committee of the Oireachtas on Justice concluded in 2005 that: ‘We are dealing with acts of international terrorism that were colluded in by the British security forces’.
“The Irish government has now signed up to new laws that will protect those British soldiers involved in these and other attacks in the South and in the North.
“The British want to close the door on their past actions. Like many others I will be speaking to my legal team in the next few days to examine what options here and within Europe are open to us.”
