COVINGTON — Gerry Adams, President of the Sinn Fein political party in Northern Ireland, used the Kentucky state motto “United we stand, divided we fall” as an example of what he hopes will happen with the continuing peace process in Ireland.

Q&A with Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams

Q. Are you a member of the Irish Republican Army? A. No. Q. You have been accused by people in Ireland, England and the U.S. of being a terrorist. How do you respond? A. Of course I'm not a terrorist. The argument between patriotism and terrorism goes all the way back to the Bible. It's mostly academic. George Washington was called a terrorist, and Nelson Mandela was called a terrorist. Q. How close is Ireland to a peaceful solution and a united country? A. I'd like to think the peace process will be bedded down in five years. Our (Sinn Fein) focus is to make it work. I intend to live in a free, united Ireland. Q. What happens to the money raised by you and other Sinn Fein officials in the U.S? Some people have charged that it goes to buy guns and bombs. A. The U.S. Justice Department keeps records of all the money donated to us. It's all on file. Some of the money stays in this country to help with informing the people here. Some goes back to Ireland where it's used to purchase computers, office equipment, make repairs and the like. Q. Could the bombings and shootings resume in Northern Ireland if peace is not reached soon? A. It is our intention that this is all behind us. If not, then all our efforts would go to end it. It's no longer a question of if we will achieve unity and peace, but when.

        Mr. Adams spoke before a crowd of 430 at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption Monday and said the Kentucky motto is “a lesson in itself for all of us.”

        “All in all, this is a fitting place to speak about peace and reconciliation in Ireland and Sinn Fein's view of the role of religion in our society,” the Belfast native said.

        Mr. Adams came to the area as part of a tour of several U.S. cities to raise funds for Sinn Fein and, he said, to keep the people in this country informed about what is happening in Ireland.

        “As long as Irish Americans focus on the peace process in Ireland, the representatives of the government in this country will also have to pay attention to it,” he said.

        Conflict between Catholics and Protestants has raged for centuries in Northern Ireland. Since 1966, more than 3,600 people have been killed in the fighting.

        Mr. Adams spoke briefly Monday at the World Peace Bell in Newport before ringing the 66,000-pound bell. Campbell County Judge-executive Steve Pendery presented Mr. Adams with a certificate making him a Kentucky Colonel.

        “I want to express our hope here in Campbell County and across the U.S. for peace in Ireland,” Mr. Pendery said.

        During his stop at the World Peace Bell, Mr. Adams said he was especially taken by the posters on the walls in the museum building that portrayed children from around the world.

        “That's really what this is all about,” he said. “I want my grandchildren and everyone's grandchildren to live in a peaceful, united Ireland. As I look at the plaques on the walls above the posters with peace written in many languages, I would hope to see another one some day saying siochain, Gaelic for peace.”

        He mentioned the Irish Proclamation of 1916, what he called Ireland's Declaration of Independence, which calls for the people to “guarantee religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities for all its citizens” and “cherish all the children of the nation equally.”

        Mr. Adams recognized Cincinnati minister and noted civil rights leader the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, who gave the benediction at the gathering.

        “I'm honored to be here with Rev. Shuttlesworth,” he said. “Much of the struggle for unity in Ireland in the 1960s was patterned after the civil rights struggles in this country.”

        Although the split in Northern Ireland appears to be on religious lines, Protestant against Catholic, Mr. Adams insisted that religion was not actually the issue but had become a badge to further political differences.

        “Religion has been hijacked as a means of social control in Northern Ireland,” he said, calling for an end to sectarianism and the death and destruction it has spawned over the years.

        Mr. Adams attended a fund raising dinner at Jack Quinn's Irish Pub in Covington following his address at the cathedral. He was scheduled to leave today for Washington, D.C., where he said he would meet with President Bush on Wednesday.

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