Solicitor says Adams' name 'never mentioned' before BBC report

A solicitor acting for Denis Donaldson's family has said Gerry Adams' name was never mentioned in dealings with the BBC prior to its Spotlight programme at the centre of a libel case.

Ciarán Shiels was called to give evidence at the High Court in Dublin by Mr Adams' lawyers.

The former Sinn Féin leader is suing the BBC over a claim, which he denies, that he sanctioned Mr Donaldson's murder in 2006, after he was exposed as a British agent.

Mr Shiels recounted his contacts with the BBC in the months before the broadcast in 2016.

He said the Donaldson family did not wish to participate in the documentary, and initially they had worries around privacy issues.

He had several interactions with Spotlight reporter Jennifer O'Leary, whom he met and corresponded with.

Referring to Mr Adams, Mr Shiels told the court: "I don't think his name was ever suggested. Nowhere. I would've remembered it if it had."

He was then asked what he would have told her if she had suggested Mr Adams was involved in Mr Donaldson's killing.

"I would've said to her not only was she barking up the wrong tree, she wasn't even in the right orchard."

Mr Shiels told the court that the Donaldson family has previously stated that they do not blame the IRA for the murder, or believe that Mr Adams authorised it.

The Real IRA claimed responsibility Mr Donaldson's murder in 2009.

Earlier, a barrister acting for the BBC alleged that Gerry Adams never sued over allegations he was in the IRA because he sat on its army council until 2005.

The former Sinn Féin leader has consistently denied ever having been in the IRA.

Paul Gallagher SC, acting for the BBC, asked Mr Adams why he never sued the media over claims he was in the IRA.

Mr Adams, in previous evidence, had said his legal advice had always been he would never get a fair trial.

He added that on this occasion, it is a trial by a jury of his peers and "a new experience for me".

Mr Gallagher put it to him that he never acted before now as he had been in the IRA and on its army council until two decades ago.

Mr Adams pointed out he had taken a case against the Sunday World in relation to the murder of Kevin McGuigan in 2015 and that the paper had settled.

He said on other occasions he had lodged complaints with editors and others.

Later on, he said: "I repeat this is an attempt to persuade the good people on this jury that what reputation I had was bad, Spotlight could say what they want and I could have no redress.

"I'm acknowledging these allegations flying about.

"But that doesn't mean my reputation is a bad reputation."

During the opening statement made by Mr Adams' legal team last week, it stated he had a built a reputation as a peacemaker.

Earlier, Mr Gallagher referred to other articles on the BBC website relating to the killing, including a statement by the Donaldson family that they did not believe the IRA was involved, as well as reports published in subsequent years relating to arrests over the murder.

However, Mr Adams said "the horse had bolted" and the "damage had been done" as the programme had been broadcast and the article was put online.

While holding up a printed copy of the online article which contained the allegation that he had sanctioned the killing, he asked: "Did this remain on the website?"

Mr Adams said bringing up different articles about Mr Donaldson's case was "somewhat subterfuge", as the piece including the original accusation remained online, adding that the headline with the allegation that he had sanctioned the killing was what most people would read.

He added: "Why didn't the BBC take this down?"

Mr Adams has now concluded giving his evidence.

He has given hours of testimony over seven days.

The case continues.

Mr Donaldson was once a key figure in Sinn Féin's rise as a political force in Northern Ireland but he was found murdered in 2006 after it emerged he had been a spy.

He was interned without trial for periods in the 1970s.

After the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, Sinn Féin appointed Mr Donaldson as its key administrator in the party's Stormont offices.

In 2005 Mr Donaldson confessed he was a spy for British intelligence for two decades, before disappearing from Belfast.

He was found dead in a small, run down cottage in Glenties, County Donegal.

Mr Adams was the president of republican party Sinn Féin from 1983 until 2018.

He served as MP in his native Belfast West from 1983 to 1992 and again from 1997 until 2011 before sitting as a TD (Teachta Dála) in the Dáil (Irish parliament) between 2011 and 2020.

Mr Adams led the Sinn Féin delegation during peace talks that eventually brought an end to the Troubles after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

He was detained in the early 1970s when the government in Northern Ireland introduced internment without trial for those suspected of paramilitary involvement.

Mr Adams has consistently denied being a member of the IRA.