1 day Ago By Staff Reporter
The United States attorney general attempted to block Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams from fundraising there in 1995, newly released records show. Papers contained in the annual release of documents from the National Archives in Dublin show that Janet Reno, the attorney general at the time, wanted to stop Mr Adams from fundraising because of a belief the IRA was still trying to source weapons. Ms Reno had previously opposed then-US president Bill Clinton’s decision to grant visas to Mr Adams and the former IRA chief of staff Joe Cahill in January 1994, but her continuing opposition is revealed in the records.
At the time, Mr Adams was president of Sinn Fein which was regarded as the political wing of the IRA paramilitary group. Mr Adams has always denied being a member of the IRA. Months after the IRA declared a ceasefire in 1994, the chief legal adviser to the US president still did not want to grant the Sinn Fein leader a visa.
Mr Clinton overruled her by giving Mr Adams a three-month visa that included permission to raise funds for the party – provoking anger from UK prime minister John Major. In a letter dated February 1995 to Mr Clinton’s national security adviser Tony Lake, Ms Reno expressed frustration “by the latest effort” to modify restrictions that stopped Mr Adams raising money from Irish-American donors. She said she had looked at the matter “barely six weeks” earlier in January and had then decided that the fundraising restriction should stay because conditions had not changed sufficiently.
“No evidence has been brought to my attention (since) that suggests progress has been made towards the disarmament and demobilisation of the IRA,” she told Mr Lake. She added: “In addition, I am aware of evidence that suggests that (the IRA) has continued to identify potential sources for arms procurement and to make inquiries concerning availability and terms of purchase.” The State Department, the US Treasury and the US Department of Justice had “recently intensified their efforts and public commitments to combatting international terrorism”, she went on.
Ms Reno said these collective efforts “could be undermined by removing the Adams visa restriction at this time”. In the interim, Sean O hUiginn, head of the Anglo-Irish division of Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs, met Mr Adams on February 7 1995. A separate note contained in the files says that Mr Adams then expressed worries about his situation in the US, hoping that a renewed visa would waive restrictions on fundraising.
According to the documents, he made the comments in a meeting where he also expressed concerns that political instability could lead to a return to violence. The Sinn Fein leader applied for a visa that included fundraising permission on February 22, which Mr Clinton granted because of the progress he felt had been made. “We have made clear our expectation that all and any funds raised will be used for legitimate political party purposes which serve to reinforce Sinn Fein’s commitment to the peace process,” a US note held in the Irish state papers shows.
However, Mr Clinton’s decision and a subsequent invitation for Mr Adams to visit the White House for St Patrick’s Day celebrations angered London, Mr Lake told Mr O hUiginn. In a note to Dublin after spending an evening with Mr Lake at a Chieftains’ concert, Mr O hUiginn said the US security adviser had expressed “strong surprise” at “the over-the-top British reaction”, including Mr Major refusing to take a call from Mr Clinton. Meeting with Ulster Unionists in Washington in February after the publication of the Anglo-Irish framework document agreed by Mr Major and then-taoiseach John Bruton, Mr Lake was also warned “that crowds might take to the street” in Northern Ireland.
– This article is based on documents in 2024/28/38 and 2024/28/10..
