Adams: Irish peace process can succeed

The Sinn Fein leader says IRA allegations have not derailed the peace process.
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio (AP) -- Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams looked past a St. Patrick's Day snub by President Bush and said Friday that recent crimes blamed on the Irish Republican Army have not derailed the Irish peace process.
The accords calling for power sharing in Northern Ireland "potentially can bring about substantial change," Adams told about 1,500 people at John Carroll University.
"Are we going to succeed? Yes," said Adams, who predicted that an agreement could lead to power sharing between Catholics and hard-line Protestant leader Ian Paisley.
"That's my conviction," said Adams, who was returning a visit by students who are using violence-plagued Northern Ireland to study peacemaking.
Impatient for peace
He mentioned a snub by Sen. Edward Kennedy, who canceled a meeting with Adams, and criticism of the IRA by Sen. John McCain.
He told the campus audience that if Irish-American politicians are impatient for peace, "How do you think I feel?"
The visit capped a weeklong effort by the head of the outlawed IRA's political wing to stem criticism about allegations that the IRA mounted a $50 million bank heist in Belfast on Dec. 20 and was responsible for killing a Catholic civilian, Robert McCartney, outside a Belfast pub on Jan. 30.
Adams, a reputed IRA commander since the mid-1970s, has been part of the White House celebration of St. Patrick's Day for years but was barred from official U.S. government functions on Thursday.
Adams said it would be up to people in Northern Ireland to decide the effect of recent incidents. He said he supports efforts to find and identify McCartney's killers and bring them to justice.
"I support the McCartney family, absolutely, in their quest for justice," he said. "As for the bank holdup, obviously bank robberies are not acceptable."
The campus invitation to Adams was extended by John Carroll students who spent five weeks in Northern Ireland last summer as part of the Jesuit-run university's Belfast Institute. Participants met with various sides in the sectarian conflict, including Adams.