How Sinn Féin came in from the cold: British state’s changing attitude to republicans tracked over time
Arrival of Sinn Féin members as elected representatives in 1980s met with caution and secrecy by officials
Gerry Adams
John Bruton believed nationalists were not properly represented by Sinn Féin or SDLP
New taoiseach caused concern as IRA grappled with ceasefire and decommissioning decisions, papers show
‘Show some respect’, Brian Cowen told Gerry Adams in furious Belfast meeting, records show
Kidnapping of dissident Tohill in 2004 heightened tensions, with McDowell comparing Sinn Féin to Nazis
US attorney general believed IRA tried to buy weapons after 1994 ceasefire, State papers reveal
Bill Clinton overruled objections to let Gerry Adams fundraise – and to celebrate St Patrick’s Day in White House
From Blair and Clinton to civil servants in the shadows, archive papers reveal scale of peace push
IRA Army Council management by Gerry Adams, Bertie Ahern’s referendum worries and unionists’ mistrust are revealed in documents
Stakeknife allegations ‘traumatised’ Sinn Féin, Ahern and Blair believed
Disclosure ignited ‘all kinds’ of conspiracy theories about who was being protected and who eliminated
Smart people still insist the truth of a patent absurdity – that Gerry Adams was never in the IRA
The observation that ‘the past is never dead – it’s not even past’ seems especially true in Northern Ireland
From Baby Reindeer and The Traitors to Bodkin and The 2 Johnnies Late Night Lock In: The best and worst television of 2024
The glory days of streaming are over, but TV has never been more unpredictable
There’s an air of autocracy about some of Sinn Féin’s recent pronouncements
Sinn Féin manifesto's bizarre plans for an investigation into RTÉ’s coverage of the conflict in Gaza are part of a worrying pattern
Family of Jean McConville criticise ‘hurtful’ Disney+ dramatisation
Nine-part series Say Nothing deals with abduction and murder of Belfast mother by Provisional IRA in December 1972
Say Nothing: Bingeable yet sober-minded eulogy for the tragedy of the Troubles
Television review: Adaptation of Patrick Radden Keefe book retraces abduction and murder of Jean McConville and experiences of IRA bomber Dolours Price
Gerry Adams denies involvement in ‘Disappeared’ killings as Disney+ series launches
New drama series links former Sinn Féin president to deaths of Jean McConville and three others but Adams says accusations based on claims from ‘anti-peace process republicans’
Rita: A Memoir by Rita O’Hare; At the End of The Day by Jimmy Kelly; Until We Fall by Helena Sheehan
Memoirs of three people who committed to their take on a better world, with each subject’s political gravity falling to the left
The Disappeared: ‘If you think there are straightforward heroes and villains then you are not thinking hard enough’
Say Nothing covers a broad sweep of Troubles history, from civil rights marches in 1969 to the arrest of Gerry Adams for questioning about the murder of Jean McConville. It’s a story about the costs of violence ‘and the way they echo down the years’
What Gerry Adams really said to David Trimble in the loo during peace talks
Drama bigs up Adams-Trimble encounter; Saoirse Ronan gets a knock-back; buskers object to Grafton Street development; and Sabina Higgins takes on a woolly role
The Provisional IRA’s campaign was never about civil rights
Former campaigner Anthony Coughlan: Modern-day Sinn Féin trying invent a respectable ‘myth of origin’ for itself
Crisis upon crisis: What next for Mary Lou McDonald and Sinn Féin as an election looms?
The party faces strategic problems over where it positions itself and who its core voters are. And as it’s trying to figure all this out, it gets hit with one controversy after another
Gerry Adams defamation case against BBC to be heard by jury next spring
The former Sinn Féin leader alleges he was defamed in a 2016 programme and article
Agreement: No play about the Good Friday negotiations has the right to be this much fun
Dublin Theatre Festival 2024: Owen McCafferty’s writing cuts through the Belfast peace talks’ seriousness to find levity in personal stakes and political bluster
The Ban: What did barring Sinn Féin voices from the airwaves do to political culture?
Roisin Agnew on her new film, which is being screened as part of the IFI Documentary Festival 2024
Voices of the dead speak again, telling unheard stories of the IRA ceasefire 30 years on
New writing and never-previously broadcast interviews bring alive the negotiations and nervousness before a critical moment in the Belfast peace process
‘After a few thumps, they let go of me’: Veteran editor on covering the North from Troubles to today
Noel Doran singles out the murder of Patrick Kielty’s father in 1988 in influencing his outlook as editor of Irish News for 25 years
Grizzled ‘republican family’ veterans turn out for IRA bomber Rose Dugdale’s funeral
Mourners who forgot to wear Easter lilies handed replacements as service plays host to who’s who of republican circles
Four Shots in the Night by Henry Hemming: a chilling read
This superb book examines the 1986 murder of Frank Hegarty in Northern Ireland
Patrick Freyne: 12 reasons why it hasn’t always been cool to be Irish - including Murder, She Wrote and Batman
Young Irish people are growing up with an unreasonable sense of confidence. St Patrick’s weekend is an ideal chance to correct the record
Sinn Féin’s battle to engage the Irish-American heart, mind and wallet when it comes to Irish reunification
The lives of the modern, career-focused Irish in the States are a far cry from those of the immigrants who escaped a moribund Ireland in the 80s and 90s
Gerry Adams is ‘precluded from obtaining compensation’ for quashed convictions, court rules
Former Sinn Féin president’s legal battle has been rendered ‘academic’ by UK Trouble’s Legacy Act
First Minister Michelle O’Neill makes the most of her moment as Stormont Assembly recalled after two-year impasse
Sense of occasion felt throughout the Assembly Chamber as Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly acknowledged ‘historic moment’, with one lone dissenting TUV voice
Legal action against Gerry Adams to proceed but Troubles compensation case thrown out
Three men injured by bombs in England allege Gerry Adams was ‘leading member’ of Provisional IRA
Slapping down a ‘vexatious’ legal case: what a Belfast court ruling means for Sinn Féin libel litigation
People within party may consider that negative publicity arising from some cases does party’s reputation no good
Adams told British he was ‘totally discredited with IRA’ over failure to get prosecution amnesty
British government came under pressure from Sinn Féin in 2000 to give immunity to republicans who were ‘on the run’ for offences from before the Belfast Agreement
Peter Mandelson viewed by Irish officials as ‘arrogant’ in public but ‘insecure in private’
State papers: An MP colleague also remarked that Mandelson’s tunnel vision was his greatest strength and his greatest weakness
X case ‘horror’, ‘gay bashing’, and republican ‘headbangers’: State papers shed light on a turbulent decade
Newly declassified files span 10 years in which the Republic became more liberal and Northern Ireland gained peace
Gerry Adams lobbied for release of garda killers a year after conviction
State papers: British officials also raised issue of prisoner release, saying ‘life of a Garda’ could not be valued differently from that of a UK policeman
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