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Name: | Gerry Adams |
| Party: | Sinn Fein | |
| Constituency: | Belfast West | |
| Contact Address: | Parliament Buildings |
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| Constituency Office Address: | ||
| Telephone Number: | 02890521471 | |
| E-Mail Address: | Gerry.Adams@niassembly.gov.uk |
| Place and Date of Birth: | Ballymurphy 1948 |
| Married: | Yes |
| Family: | 1 son |
| Education: |
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| Occupation and brief outline of career: |
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| Brief outline of public/ political career: |
Involved in the civil rights campaign in the late 1960s and was active in campaigns around bad housing and equal rights.
Interned without trial in 1972. In July 1972 released to participate in secret talks in London with the then British Secretary of State, William Whitelaw. Re-arrest and tried to escape from Long Kesh. Imprisoned and eventually released in 1976. In 1978 again arrested for alleged IRA membership. The charges were dismissed. Played a leading role in the campaign for political status for political prisoners in the 1981 Hunger Strike. In 1982 topped the poll in West Belfast in the Assembly elections. In June 1983 elected MP for West Belfast with a majority of more than 5,000. 1983 elected President of Sinn Fein at the party’s Ard Fheis.1984 shot and seriously wounded by a loyalist death squad. It later emerged that the RUC Special Branch and British Intelligence knew of this plot to kill him.Won the west Belfast seat again in 1988 but lost it briefly to the SDLP in 1991. In 1997, in 2001 and again in 2005 re-elected as MP for West Belfast. In 1998 he was elected to the Assembly and re-elected in 2003 and 2007.1987 Was instrumental in launching the party's current peace strategy with the publication of the discussion document Scenario for Peace. This was followed in 1992 with the document Towards a Lasting Peace in Ireland.In 1994 his efforts and that of the party leadership persuaded the IRA to call a cessation of all military actions and although this broke down for a time, after its reinstatement all-party talks successfully led in April 1998 to the Good Friday Agreement. In 2005 appealed to the IRA to take decisive decisions that would save the peace process from imminent collapse. As a result the IRA formally ended its armed campaign and in conjunction with the International Independent Commission on Decommissioning it dealt decisively with the issue of arms.In January 2007 Sinn Fein at a special Ard Fheis agreed to engage with the new policing structures. In March 2007 Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley agreed a deal which a few months later saw the political institutions restored. |
| Other memberships/ interests/ achievements/awards: |
A member of PEN, the international guild of writers, Gerry Adams has published several books including: A Pathway to Peace, The Politics of Irish Freedom and Selected Writings, A New Ireland – A Vision for the Future; his autobiographies "Before the Dawn" and Hope and History - Making Peace in Ireland, An Irish Voice and his most recent book is An Irish Journal. |