Gerry Adams says murder of widowed mother-of-10 Jean McConville was 'very regrettable'
Gerry Adams has described the killing of Jean McConville as "deeply regrettable".
He also rubbished a TV series which has recently been made about the murder and some of those responsible, dubbing it "a Walt Disney version" of history.
The TV series is called Say Nothing, and is viewable on Disney+.
Mr Adams, the former Sinn Fein president, made his comments in a letter to the Irish Times.
The letter was largely a complaint about a piece which had been published earlier by the Irish Times' political editor Pat Leahy.
In that piece, Mr Leahy had mentioned Say Nothing, and said that it "depicts Adams as having a leadership role in the IRA during the early 1970s", adding: "At the end of every episode, a disclaimer appears on the screen, telling viewers that Adams has always denied being a member of the IRA."
Mr Adams' denials of IRA membership are an "absurdity", Mr Leahy went on to write. In response, Mr Adams' letter to the Irish Times began: "Generally, but not always, I try to ignore the nonsense sometimes written about me.
"But Pat Leahy’s [column] deserves a response."
Mr Adams, who did not in his letter address claims about him having been in the IRA, wrote: "The main thrust of Pat Leahy’s column is based on a Walt Disney version, promoted as entertainment, of a particularly horrific phase of our recent history and based on the totally discredited Boston College Tapes fiasco.
"These dealt with the IRA's very regrettable killing and secret burial of Jean McConville. Those who contributed to these tapes confessed to their involvement.
"They also opposed Sinn Féin's peace strategy and the wider peace process. Some were involved with so-called dissident groups. Whatever trauma they suffered does not justify this.
"Other republicans suffered equally but were able to rise above their own difficulties to build the peace. They put the future of the people of this island before their own egos.
"They are hardly objective witnesses for Pat Leahy to base his analysis on."
Belfast IRA members Dolours Price and Brendan Hughes had both taken part in the Boston Tapes project – a series of recordings of former paramilitaries.
Both have claimed that Mr Adams okayed the murder of Mrs McConville.
In 2014, Mr Adams was arrested and questioned by police for days over the killing.
He was ultimately released without charge and has emphatically denied any involvement.
In his Andersonstown News column in 2023, Mr Adams went on to write that the IRA’s “disappearances” had been a “grievous injustice” and had been “wrong and unjustifiable”.