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>The Funeral of Brendan Hughes >Setting the Record Straight > > > > > > >Anthony McIntyre • 24 February 2008 > >It has been reported in some sections of the press >that the attendance at the funeral of the late IRA >leader Brendan Hughes by Sinn Fein president Gerry >Adams was a sign of the rift between the two men >having being healed. Sinn Fein itself has been >whispering that shortly before he died Brendan Hughes >sent for Gerry Adams and apologised to him for the >criticisms that he had directed at the current Sinn >Fein strategy. No doubt this too was filtered though >to the media along one channel or another. A lazy >media, willing to function as ‘useful idiots’ content >to feed on shadow rather than substance could be >expected to run with the first morsel thrown their way >no matter how tasteless. > >It may have been more fruitful for the media to have >at least explored the possibility that the attendance >at the funeral by Mr Adams and his two visits to >Brendan Hughes while he lay dying in the intensive >care unit of a Belfast hospital may just have been >strategically designed to create a certain impression; >one that would show that Brendan Hughes had repented >and had been welcomed back into the fold with open >arms by generous comrades eager to forgive him for his >errant ways. > >Unlikely as it is, it may be possible that Mr Adams >had a pang of conscience and went along to apologise >to Brendan for the way the former hunger striker had >been treated by his party solely because he had the >temerity to make public his concerns about the >strategic direction of party policy. Brendan Hughes >had been vilified in whispering campaigns, ignored >when invitations for public discussions were being >sent out, excluded from a university platform where he >had been a guest speaker, had his flat bugged, and was >censored when he sought to vent his concerns about >improper economic practices taking place in Gerry >Adams’ West Belfast constituency. > >If Mr Adams made any such apology it went without >reciprocation. Brendan Hughes was in a coma when Gerry >Adams visited him in hospital a week before he died. >The second time that the Sinn Fein president visited >Brendan in hospital, the latter was unconscious still >and only moments from death. > >Brendan Hughes may indeed have had a soft spot for >Gerry Adams based on the bond that was established >between the two men when together along with Ivor Bell >they directed the prosecution of the IRA war in >Belfast against the British state. If he still felt in >any way personally endeared to his former IRA comrade >he kept it a closely guarded secret. > >Politically, there was no meeting of minds between >Brendan Hughes and Gerry Adams. That was one rift that >was never healed. Brendan Hughes at no point embraced >the strategy devised by Gerry Adams. His whole being >screamed out in protest against it. He believed it to >be the ultimate capitulation, the abandonment of >republicanism, the property of a ‘class of >professional liars.’ He left us nothing to suggest >that he had changed his mind on key fundamental >issues. He died believing that Sinn Fein under the >leadership of Gerry Adams had deserted the poor, had >ignored the terrible effects of long term imprisonment >on many IRA volunteers, and had made its peace with >Britain on British terms. He also believed that Irish >unity was no closer to being achieved than it was at >the beginning of the Provisional IRA’s campaign. One >of his most frequent questions was, ‘What was it all >for?’ > >The death of Brendan Hughes has demonstrated most >clearly that a rift was indeed healed. It was the rift >between Brendan Hughes and Ivor Bell not the one >between Brendan Hughes and Gerry Adams. Brendan Hughes >went to his end firmly believing that Ivor Bell could >have saved republicanism and as firmly convinced that >Gerry Adams destroyed it.

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