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A former leader of the SDLP has criticised Gerry Adams for suggesting that the 1998 Good Friday Agreement provided a previously non-existent path for republicans to pursue peaceful change.

Mark Durkan, a former deputy first minister and a key player at the time of the ‘98 deal, said the IRA campaign had proved “futile” and “counter-productive”.

Meanwhile DUP man Jonathan Buckley likewise challenged Mr Adams’ comments on Monday – particularly the ex-Sinn Fein president’s remark about thousands of lives being saved by the Good Friday Agreement.

On the suggestion by Mr Adams in an interview with PA news agency that the ‘98 deal had finally offered an “alternative to republican violence” Mr Durkan said: “There was always a democratic and peaceful alternative to the wanton violence of the Provisional IRA.

"They rejected the principle of consent - which they now accept.

"They argued that IRA violence was justified because of the nature of the British presence.

"Through dialogue and the development of understanding Sinn Fein came to adjust their position, in a way that proved the alternative was always possible.

"Sinn Fein rejected John Hume's advocacy of an agreement that could be reached through inclusive dialogue being put to a referendum north and south for endorsement.

"They rejected that back in the SF/SDLP talks in 1988. Thankfully they laterly came to accept that."

In his interview Mr Adams also said that “the first acid test [of the deal] is thousands of people are alive who may otherwise be dead”.

“Undoubtedly lives have been saved in Northern Ireland since 1998,” responded Upper Bann MLA Mr Buckley.

"But thousands more would also have been alive had the IRA and other paramilitary groups not deliberately sought to take the lives of innocent people.

"Many people are also alive today because of the infiltration of groups like the IRA by the security services, yet Gerry Adams conveniently ignores this when he talks about being ‘on the path towards a negotiated settlement for many years’.

"The anniversary of the Belfast Agreement is providing another opportunity for republicans to offer revisionism and a warped history of what happened here.

"There was always an alternative to the terrorism which blighted Northern Ireland and it was never justified.”

Ex-SDLP leader and DUP MLA round on Gerry Adams' comments about republicans and peace process

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