Adams has been at the centre of power within Sinn Féin since the early 1970s after he was released from internment without trial. He has always denied claims that from 1972 onwards he held a senior position, firstly in the Belfast IRA, and later as overall leader of the Provisionals. The Dáil deputy for Louth in the Irish parliament and the former West Belfast MP said he would be seeking re-election as Sinn Féin president at the Ard Fheis.

But sources within the mainstream Irish republican movement and veteran Adams-watchers believe the 69-year-old will still hold the centre of power in Sinn Féin from behind the scenes long after his official successor is elevated to the top post. Adams is one of the co-architects alongside McGuinness of an IRA ceasefire, which within three years becomes a permanent cessation of violence. 1997 So the knowledge of my unlawful detention was known by the most senior level of the British system,” Adams said after the judgment.

Documents released to the public records office under the 30-year rule revealed that the British prime minister at the time, Harold Wilson, knew there had been procedural irregularities in the detention of Adams and other republicans who tried to escape from the heavily guarded camp. As this legal regime has developed, a British serviceman is now 54 times more likely to be prosecuted for alleged Northern Ireland Troubles era crimes than a terrorist. Rightly, the Government has sought to remedy this asymmetry - acting upon its broad manifesto pledge in 2019 to protect veterans who are subject to vexatious claims from the burgeoning “lawfare” industry. For decades Adams has also denied allegations from former comrades that he was a senior IRA commander and member of its ruling body, the army council.

Intriguingly, the Labour Party did not oppose this amendment – though it remains opposed to the main Bill.Gerard "Gerry" Adams, MLA, MP (Irish: Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh; born 6 October 1948) is an Irish republican politician and abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the political party at the top of the latest North of Ireland election polls amidst a three-way split in the traditionally dominant unionist vote. Sinn Féin is the second largest party in the Northern Assembly. Despite his many remarkable achievements in turning the republican movement towards solely peaceful constitutional politics, Adams is now seen by both external observers and some party insiders as a brake on the party’s growth in the Republic. The 69-year-old-republican played a pivotal role in shifting the IRA to a permanent ceasefire in the 1990s and nudging Sinn Féin towards embracing power sharing with its former unionists enemies in Northern Ireland. His double was driven to the Maze where the plan was that he would be swapped for Adams in a visiting hut. Prison staff had been alerted, however, and Adams was arrested.