To get back to the original subject of this thread, I can't find it in myself to regard Gerry Adams as a hero.

When Seamus Mallon described the Good Friday agreement as "Sunningdale for slow learners" he wasn't only referring to the unionists. Sinn Fein and the IRA made a major contribution to pulling down that power sharing government.

The IRA committed many atrocities over the intervening years and in my opinion its actions were intended to provoke a civil war. The innate decency of the vast majority in the North, on both sides, prevented that happening.

Gerry Adams is obviously an intelligent man, but it took him and his colleagues a long time to recognise that you can't persuade people to join in a united Ireland by murdering their friends and neighbours.

Having said that, I wish them well in continuing to restrain the wilder men in their movement who even now remain attached to the gun. It is a dangerous task requiring personal courage.