Ex-Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams awarded €100,000 in libel case against BBC

BBC News

30-05-2025

Update:
Date: 12:07 BST
Title: Adams - PM 'refusing to pay' compensation in another 'unrelated case'
Content: Adams said he is "mindful of an unrelated case" when he was wrongly denied compensation after his convictions for trying to escape from prison in the 1970s were quashed.
He added that the prime minister is "refusing to pay compensation" to 300-400 former detainees that are "now quite elderly".
Update:
Date: 12:03 BST
Title: License fee payers
Content: Adams said the 'license fee payers are going to pay for
this, the BBC aren't using their own money' and it 'could have been dealt with a long time ago'.
Update:
Date: 12:00 BST
Title: 'BBC out of sync on many fronts with Good Friday Agreement' - Adams
Content: Adams tells the press that, from his perspective, it was about putting manners on the BBC.
"The BBC upholds the ethos of the British state in Ireland, in my view it's out of sync on many, many fronts with the Good Friday Agreement."
Update:
Date: 11:59 BST
Title: Adams 'mindful' of Donaldson family
Content: Adams says he is "very mindful of the Donaldson family in the course
of this long trial" and "indeed of the victims' families" who have had to watch
all of this.
"I want to say that the justice minister should meet the family
of Denis Donaldson as quickly as possible, and there is an onus on both
governments, and everyone else and I include myself in this, to try and deal
with these legacy issues."
Update:
Date: 11:57 BST
Title: Adams thanks legal team after winning libel case
Content: Adams first addressed the waiting press in Irish to thank his family and his legal team.
Update:
Date: 11:55 BST
Title: Outside pressure?
Content: In his statement Paul Tweed poses the question of whether or not the BBC faced pressure in making the allegations.
Outside Dublin's High Court he said: "It begs the question whether there has been any political or outside pressure on the BBC to take the stand they have taken."
Update:
Date: 11:54 BST
Title: 'Undermines BBC high standards'
Content: Tweed continued: "The fact that the false allegation has been left
online for nine years has in my opinion done much to undermine the high standards
of accuracy that is expected at the BBC."
Update:
Date: 11:53 BST
Title: Verdict 'speaks for itself' - Tweed
Content: Paul Tweed continues by saying: "Our client is very pleased with this resounding verdict and award
of damages which speaks for itself."
The jury "came to the conclusion that the subject matter of
the Spotlight programme was highly defamatory", he adds.
Update:
Date: 11:50 BST
Title: The allegation was 'totally untrue', Adams' lawyer says
Content: Adams' solicitor, Paul Tweed, is speaking outside the court in Dublin and calls the allegation against his client "totally untrue and defamatory".
"The BBC Spotlight team should not have included it in their broadcast."
Update:
Date: 11:46 BST
Title: Watch live as Gerry Adams speaks outside court
Content: In the next few minutes, Gerry Adams is expected to speak to the press outside the court in Dublin following the verdict of his libel case against the BBC.
The Director of BBC Northern Ireland, Adam Smyth, is also expected to comment.
Click Watch Live at the top of this page to follow along.
Update:
Date: 11:42 BST
Title: What is the libel case about?
Content: Gerry Adams sued the BBC
over a 2016 BBC Spotlight NI programme and an online article in which an anonymous
source alleged he sanctioned the murder of a British agent, Denis Donaldson.
Donaldson was once a key figure in Sinn Féin's rise as a political force in Northern Ireland.
But he was found murdered in 2006 after it emerged he had worked for the police and MI5 inside Sinn Féin for 20 years.
Adams denied the
allegation and claimed he was defamed by the coverage.
Today he won the libel case and is awarded €100,000 (£84,000) in damages.
In fighting the case, the BBC
used a defence of fair and reasonable publication in the public interest.
The organisation has argued the words were couched as allegations and said it was supported by five other sources.
Update:
Date: 11:39 BST
Title: Adams to receive €100,000 in damages
Content: Adams has been awarded €100,000 (£84,000) in damages as a result of the libel case.
Update:
Date: 11:35 BST
Title: Gerry Adams wins libel case against the BBC
Content: Gerry Adams has won a libel case against the BBC over a Spotlight NI documentary and an accompanying online article, in which an anonymous source alleged he sanctioned the 2006 murder of British agent Dennis Donaldson.
Update:
Date: 11:27 BST
Title: Who is Gerry Adams?
Content: Gerry
Adams is one of the most recognisable and controversial figures in Irish
politics.
From his early days as a political activist to becoming
the most senior leader in the republican movement he has had a varied career.
Throughout
this time there has always been suggestions that Gerry Adams had been a senior
IRA leader, he has always denied this.
The IRA is a paramilitary group that is believed to be
responsible for about 1,700 deaths during more than 30 years of violence,
mostly in Northern Ireland, that became known as the Troubles.
While not disassociating himself from the IRA, Adams has always denied membership
Adams went on to forge a political career, he got elected as the MP for Belfast West but never took up the seat in Westminster.
He was also elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Dáil (Irish parliament) and was the president of Sinn Féin for 34 years.
He played a key role in leading republicans away from an armed campaign towards democratic republicanism during the Good Friday Agreement negotiations.
To some he is hailed as a peacemaker, for leading the republican movement away from its long, violent campaign towards peaceful and democratic means.
To others, he is a hate figure who publicly justified violence carried out by the IRA.
Though Adams has consistently denied membership of the IRA, he has said he will never "disassociate" himself from the organisation.
Read more about Gerry Adams here.
Update:
Date: 11:18 BST
Title: Verdict due in Gerry Adams libel trial
Content: Rebekah LoganBBC News NI
The jury are expected back shortly in Gerry Adams' libel case against the BBC.
While the jury's verdict has been five weeks in the making, the trial itself has taken nine years to reach this point.
Adams is suing the broadcaster over claims made in a BBC Spotlight NI programme and an accompanying online article in 2016.
This coverage contained an anonymous source alleging Adams sanctioned the murder of British agent Denis Donaldson, an allegation he denies.
The BBC has argued a defence of fair and
reasonable reporting on a matter of public interest.
The 11-person jury now has up to five questions to answer.
They were sent to consider their verdict shortly before 10.30 am on Thursday morning.
We'll let you know when they return and will be keeping you updated with events happening both inside and outside the court over the next few hours.