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Date Posted: 17:15:41 03/15/05 Tue GMT
Author: Lynn
Subject: Adams on NY visit admits disappointment with Bush snub (Newsday)

Adams, on NY visit, admits `disappointment' with Bush snub
By NICK WADHAMS
Associated Press Writer

March 14, 2005, 8:41 PM EST

NEW YORK -- Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said Monday he was disappointed President Bush did not invite him to the White House for St. Patrick's Day, but he acknowledged his IRA-linked party has lost the initiative in pushing toward peace in Northern Ireland.
Adams, speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations, said Sinn Fein was on the defensive because of public outrage over a massive Belfast bank robbery and the Jan. 30 killing of a Catholic civilian.
He said Sinn Fein was on "the back foot" and used the sports analogy that the group had lost possession of the ball.
"We at the moment have lost possession, but our intention is to regain possession, is to regain the initiative and to drive the process on once again," he said.
Bush scratched Adams' and other Irish leaders' names from the invitation list because of the controversies, but the Sinn Fein leader said he still believed the United States was committed to Northern Ireland's peace process.
Adams, visiting the United States to seek support from Irish-American activists, was asked whether he believed it was a snub for the White House to not invite him for St. Patrick's Day for the first time since 1995. He said it was a symbolic "disappointment," but he was not overly worried.
"Do I interpret that as a movement by this administration away from the peace process? No, I don't," Adams said. "This will not be worked out in the White House. ... This will be not worked out anywhere else except back on the island of Ireland."
Adams' party is affiliated with the outlawed Irish Republican Army. Sinn Fein is reeling from accusations that the IRA mounted the world's largest cash theft, stealing the equivalent of $50 million from a Belfast bank on Dec. 20, and was responsible for killing Catholic civilian Robert McCartney outside a Belfast pub.
For the first time since Northern Ireland's 1998 peace accord, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., also has refused to meet with Adams on St. Patrick's Day, which is Thursday.
Despite these difficulties, Sinn Fein and others who want peace in the British province must have the "broad support" of the United States, Adams said.
"I think our record speaks for itself," he said. "There was conflict there is no longer a conflict. It isn't a perfect peace, but it is a peace process."
The IRA has denied involvement in the bank robbery. It also initially denied involvement in McCartney's killing but since has expelled three members linked to the attack. Sinn Fein also suspended seven members in the case.
Adams urged the perpetrators of the killing to be "man enough" to turn themselves in.
"Those who did this are behaving in a most cowardly way," he said.
Adams, a reputed IRA commander since the mid-1970s, was banned from visiting the United States until 1994, when President Clinton overturned the State Department policy to encourage an IRA cease-fire.
The leader of Sinn Fein's moderate rival for Catholic votes in Northern Ireland, the Social Democratic and Labour Party, also is traveling in the United States to shore up support after the killing and robbery.
"The reality is that the McCartney murder, the Northern Bank robbery and other IRA activity has done enormous damage to the peace process," Mark Durkan said before leaving.
Kennedy's announcement showed that "leading Irish-Americans are saying enough is enough. All this criminal activity has got to end," he said.
Despite all the snubs and criticism that Adams has endured on his trip, he found support later in the day at the Transport Workers Union hall in lower Manhattan. Adams was attending an annual event celebrating an Irish-American founder of the union, Michael Quill, and the Irish nationalist leader James Connolly, who was executed for leading the Easter Rising against the British in 1916.
Adams entered the hall behind a kilted bagpipe band to a standing ovation.
The union was founded largely by Irish Americans, some with direct ties to the IRA, and was inspired by Connolly, who once organized labor activity in New York.
Adams' speech was largely uneventful. He blamed much of the recent problems on outside forces.
"There is an avalanche of abuse being heaped on us," he said.
But he promised that Sinn Fein would regain momentum.
"We are not going backward; we are going forward to peace and freedom," he said, imploring the members to support his party.

Copyright © 2005, The Associated Press

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