Experts
Gerry Adams
President, Sinn Fein
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The Irish Stake in the 2008 Election
Gerry Adams has interest in neutrality when it comes to the US election. Read More
February 20, 2008 | In Politics & Policy
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What is America's Place in the World?
Adams distinguishes between the American government and the American people. Read More
February 20, 2008 | In Politics & Policy
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What is the world's biggest challenge in the coming decade?
Gerry Adams fears August in October. Read More
February 20, 2008 | In Environment
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What story is missing from the news?
The easily fixable problems afflicting the developing world are missing from our radar, says Gerry Adams. Read More
February 20, 2008 | In Media & Internet
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"Always look on the bright side of life."
Gerry Adams the songs of a caged bird. Read More
February 20, 2008 | In Inspiration & Wisdom
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Can peace be brokered in Iraq?
Adams believes all conflicts are preventable as long as there is the will. Read More
February 20, 2008 | In Politics & Policy, World
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Who would make a better messenger for peace, Gerry Adams or Tony Blair? Read More
February 20, 2008 | In Politics & Policy
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Gerry Adams analyzes the legacy of quenching violent struggles in Ireland. Read More
February 20, 2008 | In History
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What was the turning point in the North Ireland peace process? Read More
February 20, 2008 | In Politics & Policy
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Finding the Politics of Northern Ireland
Gerry Adams recalls how he got involved in Sinn Fein. Read More
February 20, 2008 | In Politics & Policy
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Gerry Adams takes us back to growing up in West Belfast. Read More
February 20, 2008 | In Identity
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Peace in Ireland and the Middle East?
Gerry Adams compares and contrasts the Northern Irish experience with the Middle East. Read More
February 20, 2008 | In World
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Gerry Adams tells of one personal experience with philanthropy. Read More
February 19, 2008 | In Business & Economics
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Just look at a map of Africa or the Middle East, Gerry Adams says. Read More
February 19, 2008 | In History
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Gerry Adams reminisces on the 60s and the Vietnam Generation. Read More
February 19, 2008 | In History
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Gerry Adams on the Catholic Church
The Sinn Féin president on understanding religion. Read More
February 19, 2008 | In Belief
Gerard (Gerry) Adams is the president of Sinn Fein, the largest nationalist, Republican or pro-Belfast Agreement political party in Northern Ireland. He has been member of Parliament for Belfast West since 1997 and a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Belfast West since 1998. He is the Sinn Fein parliamentary leader in Dail Eireann, Ireland's House of Representatives.
From the late 1980s, Adams has been an important figure in the Northern Ireland Peace Process. Under Adams, Sinn Fein has moved toward being a professionally organized political party. He played a pivotal role in getting the IRA to give up its armed campaign against the UK in return for devolved government for Northern Ireland.
Adams was born in 1948 in West Belfast, Ireland, one of ten children who survived infancy in a nationalist Catholic family. He became involved in the Irish republian movement while working as a bartender, joining Sinn Fein and Fianna Eireann, the Irish Republican youth movement, in 1964. He was an active supporter of the Northern Ireland civil rights campaign in the late 1960s, and in 1967 he joined the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association. After helping to navigate his party through violence and hunger strikes, Adams was eventually elected president in 1983, the first Sinn Fein MP to be elected to the British House of Commons since the 1950s, although in keeping with his party's policy, he has refused to sit in the House.
In 2007, less than two weeks after Adams was re-elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly, he came to an agreement with Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley regarding the return of the power-sharing executive in Northern Ireland. Adams remains a vigorous spokesman for the Irish Republican Movement.
