Justice for individual servicemen is to be welcomed. But the real significance of the Bill is for the collective – the reaffirmation of the obligation of the British State, as the legal governing power in Northern Ireland, enjoying a monopoly of legal armed force, to protect its servants. Not blindly, but properly.

Adams was rearrested in July 1973 in Belfast and taken to the Maze, also known as Long Kesh idetention centre. On Christmas Eve 1973 he was one of four detainees caught attempting to break out. A hole had been cut in a perimeter fence and all four men were already out of the prison. He categorically denies he was consulted on what he calls an alleged IRA army council decision or that he had any final say in the matter being sanctioned. As transformational journeys go, this one, it might be said, takes the biscuit. Gerry Adams, the former president of Sinn Féin and a veteran Irish republican, has revealed he is writing a cookery book. Spotlight claimed the Provisional IRA’s South Armagh brigade rather than the Real IRA demanded Donaldson be killed in an act of revenge for his treachery. I will be allowing my name to go forward for the position of Uachtarán Shinn Féin [party president]. And if elected I will be setting out our priorities and in particular our planned process of generational change, including my own future intentions.”Martin” insisted the mainstream IRA killed Donaldson over his years of betrayal at the heart of the Irish republican movement. Gerry Adams will announce his plans to retire after 34 years as president of Sinn Féin on Saturday, marking a generational shift that will break the leadership’s last link with republican violence.

The regulations required that Northern Ireland secretary be involved personally in making any such decision. Sinn Fein's former leader Gerry Adams is writing a negotiators cook book, which will reveal secrets of the peace process. He told The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One that it was “doable” to grant Northern Ireland special designated status as the region had voted 56% in favour of staying inside the EU in the 2016 referendum. It said the convicted tax fraudster Thomas “Slab” Murphy, the jailed reputed leader of the IRA in South Armagh, personally asked the republican leadership that Donaldson be killed.The former West Belfast MP has been leader of Sinn Féin since 1983. He currently represents the Louth constituency in the Irish Republic and sits in the Dáil.

Adams, who is stepping down as Sinn Féin leader next weekend, said the British government “arguing that they’re going to leave the customs union and they’re going to leave the single market … will end up a complete disaster for people here on the island of Ireland”. Following the Donaldson murder the Real IRA admitted killing the British agent at his cottage in County Donegal. But “Martin” in the programme claimed this was an opportunistic move by the republican dissidents to promote the idea they had murdered a top British agent. Donaldson worked as a British agent while operating as a senior IRA member and Sinn Féin official in the Stormont parliament.He was rearrested in July 1973 in Belfast and taken to the Maze, also known as Long Kesh detention centre. On Christmas Eve 1973 he was one of four detainees caught attempting to break out. A hole had been cut in a perimeter fence and all four men were already out of the prison. As a result, Mr Adams’ detention had not been lawfully authorised. His detention was therefore invalid, and it followed that he should not have been convicted of attempting to escape from lawful custody for the elementary but inevitable reason that the custody in which he had been detained was, in fact, not lawful. His appeal is therefore allowed, and his convictions are quashed.” Mr Adams was the most recognisable face and voice of republicanism during years of negotiations which led to the signing of the Belfast Agreement, which largely ended decades of republican and loyalist violence. Read More Related Articles He loses his West Belfast seat to the moderate nationalist party the SDLP as talks are about to start between him and John Hume, its leader. 1994