Disappeared documentary shows Adams’ baggage is too much for Sinn Fein to bear

World of Politics with Harry McGee – harrymcgee@gmail.com

The power of television to have a massive impact on the world of politics can never be underestimated.

The Birmingham Six won their eventual freedom because of the impact of an investigative documentary on ITV made by Chris Mullin, which questioned the evidence that led to their convictions for the pub bombings of 1974. 

The Beef Tribunal came about because of a documentary made by journalist Susan O’Keeffe for World in Action also on ITV. Ditto for the State inquiries into sexual and phsyical abuse in Ireland’s State and religious-run institutions, which were established after the powerful investigative documentary ‘Suffer Little Children’ made by the late Mary Raftery.

Darragh MacIntyre was responsible for ‘The Disappeared’, an equally compelling and important documentary for the BBC in recent weeks that examined in detail the plight of those poor victims who were ‘disappeared’ by the IRA during the Troubles.

There was nothing particularly new in the documentary. Its great skill was in compiling and stranding together all the available evidence into separate narratives, each telling the story of a person who was murdered by the IRA, and the terrible effect it had on their loved ones. 

And the third element that really catapulted it into the public consciousness was the investigative stuff about Gerry Adams’ role in those who disappeared from Belfast when he was in charge of the IRA there, including an interview with the Sinn Fein leader in which he failed to dispel the whiff of sulphur that surrounds him on this issue.

There is no doubt that the documentary and subsequent reaction to it in the public sphere has damaged Sinn Fein and Gerry Adams. The Sinn Fein leader was repeatedly challenged and criticised by political opponents during the week – both in the Dáil and outside – to admit his role in the disappearance of Belfast woman Jean McConivlle in the early 1970s.

Two former colleagues of his, Dolours Price and Brendan Hughes (both now dead), alleged that he was centrally involved in the abduction and ‘disappearance’ of McConville, a widow whose death left a large family of mainly young children to fend, essentially, for themselves.

Of all the heartless killings done in the name of Irish freedom, this was one of the very worst.

Adams made no admission during the programme and reacted to the allegations in the same calm implacable manner he has reacted to countless similar allegations over the years. But his protestations – that he was not the leader of the IRA in Belfast; that Hughes and Price were lying because they had fallen out with him – just rang hollow to the ears of just about everybody who saw the programme. The reflex defence of “We are all to blame” just doesn’t do it anymore.

That this was so was evident by the reaction of Sinn Féin during the course of the week. Adams issued a long statement on Tuesday and followed it up with a blog at the weekend when he again defended himself against the allegations, and argued that he, his party and its shadow (the Provos) had done everything possible to help relatives.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.