Relations between pro-union and nationalist politicians attempting to resolve outstanding peace issues in Northern Ireland have slumped to a new low after the Sinn Féin leader referred to unionists as “bastards”.
The comments by Gerry Adams at a public meeting in Enniskillen on Monday night – the town in County Fermanagh where an IRA remembrance day bomb killed 11 Protestants in 1987 – have further poisoned the already toxic atmosphere at the Stormont talks.
In his speech, Adams questioned whether politicians including the Democratic Unionist MP Gregory Campbell were interested in equality, given his recent public insults about Gaelic.
Then Adams was recorded as saying: “But what’s the point? The point is to actually break these bastards – that’s the point. And what’s going to break them is equality. That’s what’s going to break them: equality. Who could be afraid of equality? Who could be afraid of treating somebody the way you want to be treated. That’s what we need to keep the focus on; that’s the Trojan horse of the entire republican strategy.”
The Sinn Féin TD for Louth and former West Belfast MP later said he had been referring to bigots and racists. But unionist leaders and the centrist Alliance party said Adams had insulted an entire community.
Arlene Foster, a DUP minister in the Belfast power-sharing coalition with Sinn Féin and a native of Fermanagh, described the remarks as “foul-mouthed abuse” and said Adams “had been disrespectful to an entire community”.
The Ulster Unionist leader, Mike Nesbitt, said: “The most shocking revelation is that he considers equality as a ‘Trojan horse’. The audio recording makes clear Gerry Adams thinks equality is nothing more than a tool to be used to manipulate people like me.”
David Ford, the Alliance leader and Northern Ireland’s justice minister, said: “It is completely unacceptable and only serves to create further division and hatred in our society. I have absolutely no idea why Gerry Adams could possible think that this language was justified. He has actually damaged equality legislation with his remarks.”
Late on Monday, Adams tweeted “mea culpa” acknowledging he was at fault, but insisted he had been talking about “bigots, racists and homophobes”.
Meanwhile, Adams’s key colleague in Sinn Féin, Martin McGuinness, the deputy first minister of Northern Ireland, described Campbell’s attack on the Irish language as “appalling”.
McGuinness was joined in the attack against Campbell’s remarks by the son of the DUP founder, the late Rev Ian Paisley. Kyle Paisley said Campbell’s hostility and insults towards Gaelic was “shaming unionism”.
The Free Presbyterian minister added: “As a fellow Protestant and a fellow Free Presbyterian, I think it’s about time he apologised and pulled his horns in a little bit. To use that kind of language, that he could just be completely dismissive of other people’s ideology and wishes and aspirations – that is shameful.”
The rows over the Irish language and now Adams’s remarks to a Sinn Féin meeting in the border county have increased tensions between the parties that are supposed to sharing power and running Northern Ireland.
All five major parties are engaged in talks aimed at settling three contentious issues that remain unresolved in the peace process: the flying of flags, controversial marches and the legacy of the Troubles.
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