Former US congressmen tells BBC libel trial Adams had reputation as ‘dependable'

Powys County Times

09-05-2025

Gerry Adams had a reputation of 'seriousness and dependability', a US congressmen who worked with President Bill Clinton on the peace process has told the former Sinn Fein leader's libel trial against the BBC.
Mr Adams is suing the BBC over accusations contained in a broadcast of the Spotlight documentary series and an accompanying online article which alleged he had sanctioned the killing of former Sinn Fein official Denis Donaldson.
Mr Donaldson was shot dead in 2006, months after admitting his role as a police and MI5 agent for 20 years. Mr Adams denies any involvement.
In 2009 the Real IRA admitted killing Mr Donaldson.
Mr Adams describes the allegation in the programme as a 'grievous smear' and his legal team has argued that his reputation as a 'peacemaker' had suffered an 'unjustified' attack because of the broadcast and an accompanying online article.
In the High Court in Dublin on Friday, the jury in the case heard that Mr Adams had engaged with Mr Clinton over the Northern Ireland peace process.
One of the men who worked in the US president's administration on the matter was former congressman Bruce Morrison, who gave evidence to the court about Mr Adams' reputation.
Appearing via video link from Bethesda, Maryland, Mr Morrison said he had developed a concern with the human rights situation in Northern Ireland and had travelled to the region on multiple occasions.
Through his work on the peace process, he said he had met unionists and nationalists as well a variety of Irish and British government officials.
Mr Morrison, who was an attorney and congressman before serving in Mr Clinton's administration, also told the court he was once held at gunpoint in Londonderry by the RUC despite having committed no crime.
He said he spoke to Mr Clinton, with whom he was in law school alongside the future president's wife, Hillary, about how the US could get more involved in Northern Ireland.
Taking questions from counsel for Mr Adams, Declan Doyle SC, Mr Morrison explained that Mr Adams had previously been denied visas into the US 'on ideological grounds', but was granted one by the Clinton administration in early 1994 when he was allowed to visit for 48 hours to take part in a peace conference.
He said the Sinn Fein leader's reception was 'extremely positive' and that he had put forward a picture of himself as wanting a peace process.
He said an IRA ceasefire followed later that year, which he described as a 'watershed moment that opened the door' for talks chaired by senator George Mitchell that resulted in the Good Friday Agreement.
Mr Morrison said while Mr Adams was excluded from speaking publicly in interviews in Ireland and the UK, he was increasingly expected – along with Sinn Fein – to be part of any meaningful negotiations about the end of the Troubles.
He said Mr Clinton was pursuing a 'big tent strategy' to that end, and that talks moving forward on an agreement did not happen until Sinn Fein was included.
He specifically referenced a moment when the US president publicly shook hands with Mr Adams on the Falls Road in Belfast.
Mr Morrison said this was symbolic as a statement of confidence from Mr Clinton that Mr Adams was important in bringing about an end to the Troubles.
The former congressmen told the court that he observed that Mr Adams' increasingly received a higher level of respect in Britain and Ireland because of his commitment to he peace process.
Mr Morrison said Mr Adams was a controversial figure that others may have had disagreements about, but added his reputation was one of a 'serious man on a serious mission who was committed to' the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement.
He said he had a reputation of 'seriousness, dependability' and as someone whose 'word could be taken seriously and could be relied on'.
Under cross-examination by Paul Gallagher SC, for the BBC, Mr Morrison said he could not speak to the truth of various allegations against Mr Adams but said his reputation from their dealings was one of reliability.
'My greatest impression of him was of his political acumen, his political commitments.'
Asked about his current reputation, Mr Morrison said Mr Adams is an 'elder statesmen' who was a 'distinguished leader' who had made an 'extraordinary contribution' to change in Northern Ireland.
Pressed on whether Mr Adams' previous US visa rejections were down to connections with terrorism, Mr Morrison said there was 'no question' that such a label applied to the Sinn Fein leader at the time due to the party's association with the Provisional IRA.
He said he did not know about Mr Adams' own connection to the IRA but there were certainly allegations and that would be considered during a visa application.
He said there was a view that Sinn Fein was 'the product of the IRA'.
Asked by Mr Gallagher about the lack of a commitment to end the armed struggle during the 1994 IRA ceasefire, Mr Morrison added: 'That was all to play for at that time.
'There's no question that was the objective – and the objective was obtained.
'So, the people who helped obtain the objective deserve recognition regardless of what they said 10, 15, 20 years or before.'
Mr Gallagher asked if that also applied to what they had done in those years, the congressmen added: 'Or by others, yes.'