This needs marking with a thread.Starmer says he will strive to prevent Gerry Adams receiving compensation
PM says he aims to stop former Sinn Féin leader claiming damages for his internment as ministers ditch Troubles law
Ministers will look at “every conceivable way” to prevent Gerry Adams, the former Sinn Féin president, being able to receive compensation under government plans to ditch controversial laws dealing with the Troubles period, Keir Starmer has told MPs.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... egislation
I'd put a simple question. Was the Roman Catholic population of Northern Ireland disadvantaged by the British government between partition and the Good Friday agreement? If anyone would like to answer "no" we can offer evidence on both sides of that aspect.
But assuming the answer to be "yes" for a moment - did the British government put in place any credible route by which that disadvantage would be ended, between Gerry Adams coming of age and the Good Friday negotiations? If anyone would like to answer "yes" we can offer evidence on both sides of that aspect.
But if neither view is challenged then I'll at least start the thread with my informed conclusion which I would be happy to sustain here on request: the Catholic population of Northern Ireland was in a comparable position for a similar period of time as the South African First Nations population before and during the apartheid period, and Gerry Adams is in the same moral category as Nelson Mandela.
In which case, in my opinion, the compensation Gerry Adams is due is at least the formal unconditional thanks of the British Government for his civil rights stance throughout his adult life, and to have a significant pension for life granted him as a token of recompense. The financial cost to the nation would be trivial but it would be a step toward acknowledging the amoral and despicable harm done deliberately by the British government in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, and the lifetime's work Mr Adams invested in establishing civil rights in Northern Ireland. And again, if anyone would like to disagree we can offer evidence on both sides of that aspect as well.