Bill Text: NJ AR128 | 2014-2015 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Criticizes British Government for recent ill-treatment of Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Fein.
Sponsorship: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-06-05 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee [AR128 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2014-AR128-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman SEAN T. KEAN
District 30 (Monmouth and Ocean)
Assemblyman THOMAS P. GIBLIN
District 34 (Essex and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Criticizes British Government for recent ill-treatment of Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Fein.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Assembly Resolution criticizing the British Government for its recent ill-treatment of Mr. Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Fein.
Whereas, British police in Northern Ireland arrested Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams in early May of this year in connection with the 42-year-old slaying of Jean McConville, whom the Irish Republican Army (IRA) suspected of being a spy for the British army; and
Whereas, Though Gerry Adams was released four days after his arrest, this senseless act by the British authorities has served to threaten the delicate 16 year-old peace and power sharing arrangement existent in Northern Ireland after the 30 years of violence and death know locally as "The Troubles;" and
Whereas, Gerry Adams, a prominent Catholic politician who is a member of the Irish Parliament and the long time president of Sinn Fein who helped broker the peace accord in Northern Ireland, has repeatedly denied any involvement in any conspiracy to abduct, kill or bury Mrs. McConville; and
Whereas, Mr. Adams' arrest by the British police occurred after historians in a research project sponsored by Boston College were forced by federal subpoenas to unwrap sealed interviews with former IRA members that implicated Mr. Adams in the killing; and
Whereas, The death of Mrs. McConville at the hands of the IRA was certainly a terrible crime and the re-opening of the investigation into it highlights the fact that in Northern Ireland today there is no agreement on how to deal with the crimes of the past, especially the many unsolved killings; and
Whereas, Still, the arrest of Mr. Adams has political overtones because it occurred just a few weeks before elections for the European Parliament and local offices, elections in which Sinn Fein candidates were expected to do well; and
Whereas, The arrest also raises troubling legal issues, due to the fact that the interviews were given after the participants were assured by Boston College that transcripts would not be unsealed until all the participants had died, the participants who implicated Mr. Adams in the killing have died and cannot be questioned about their assertions, and the actions by federal courts in the United States have seriously damaged the process of conducting academic research on sensitive subjects with confidential sources; and
Whereas, The rising tension in Northern Ireland produced by the arrest of Mr. Adams raised the possibility that the horrible sectarian violence between Catholics who want union with the Republic of Ireland and Protestants who want to remain part of Britain could reappear very quickly in Northern Ireland; and
Whereas, To this day, neighborhoods in some Northern Ireland cities remain partitioned, with Union Jacks and Irish tricolors demarking the boundaries between unionists and republicans, and schools, pubs, and soccer allegiances similarly divided along sectarian lines; and
Whereas, Given the underlying violability of the political situation in Northern Ireland, the injustice of the arrest and detention of Mr. Adams, and the need for Northern Ireland to work its way through its difficult legacy without the heavy hand of the British authorities, this House believes it is fitting and proper to criticize the British Government for its recent ill-treatment of Mr. Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Fein; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. This House criticizes the British Government for its recent ill-treatment of Mr. Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Fein.
2. Copies of this resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Clerk of the General Assembly to the British Ambassador to the United States, the Speaker of the British House of Commons, and to Mr. Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Fein.
STATEMENT
This House resolution criticizes the British Government for its recent ill-treatment of Mr. Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Fein.
