Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I had a row with the Deputy First Minister a number of years ago in Belfast, in Stormont, about whether he was a member of the IRA, and he told me that he was and he has said that publicly. My question to him was about the army council of the IRA and if it was it in existence or stood down. We had a long argument about that and he said it is no longer in existence.

I am not asking Deputy Adams to disassociate himself from people with whom he grew up. How could he? He knows them. As he said, in his childhood, this was a very pressurised, denied community, and I understand that breeds resentment, frustration, anger, rage and reaction. We know what happened on streets of Belfast and all the reasons associated with that, but I did not ask the Deputy about that. The question I asked was that in the context of truth and reconciliation, people always say Deputy Adams was a member of the IRA. He has been asked this question on many occasions over 30 years and he has never said "Yes", although people would say he was, and not only that but that he was a member of the army council.

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