The arrest of Sinn Féin President and ex IRA member Gerry Adams for the suspected involvement in the abduction and murder of Jean McConville is politically motivated according to Alex Maskey, another member of the party. The family of Jean McConville who was Mother to 10 children must feel that developments in the investigation regarding their mothers death in 1972 has not come a day too soon and if it damages the election cycle, that is just inconvenient for all those affected. Sinn Féin is a Political Party and it exists to promote the republican cause, and it will have invested substantial amounts of time and money to achieve a good outcome at the forthcoming elections on both sides of the Irish border. Party members and donors are entitled to feel frustrated that one of their greatest election assets has become damaged as a result of this activity but if they are genuinely committed to serving residents on the island of Ireland they must surely want to see this historic case solved. If evidence has recently come to light to justify interviewing Adams, it would be just as politically motivated for the PSNI to delay their arrest until after the election and Sinn Fein and Adams himself must surely understand this. If Gerry Adams is guilty of involvement, then he and his party need to accept that he is the one who has disturbed the election cycle, and even if he is innocent, assuming the evidence is credible then he should welcome the opportunity to have his name cleared.

The member of the party who has complained is a chap called Alex Maskey who was the first member of Sinn Féin to serve as Belfast’s Lord Mayor. In a place like Belfast a Senior Councillor would have had extensive exposure of the working of PSNI and Republican Politicians are no different. The decision to arrest Gerry Adams will have come as a result of fresh evidence, or a fresh look at historic evidence that will have been examined and tested at various stages of this investigation and due to the high profile nature of Mr Adams, let alone the impact on the McConville family, it will have been agreed at the highest level within the Police Force. Police Officers do not make such arrests on a whim and whilst they are legally bound to be politically neutral, this does not mean that they are politically naïve. Indeed senior Politicians from all parties including Alex Maskey will have the Chief Constable, Matt Baggott on their speed dials. He will be fully aware of the impact of this action on the election that he will in any case be responsible for ensuring can take safely.

It is perhaps very naïve to assume that people like Alex Maskey would be willing to stay quiet or even to speak up and give the PSNI their full support as they attempt to clear up a terrible stain on Northern Irelands bloody history. He could even explain that this arrest and opportunity for Mr Adams to clear his name, whilst welcome has come at a bad moment for the party, and the party will be pressing the Chief Constable for reassurance that this is not a fishing exercise. Anything like this might be a better approach than making accusations of bias, that all but the most rational person would know is not credible from a professional police force engaged in possibly its highest profile arrest in several decades. Whilst this is an issue for Irish Police Officers and Irish Politicians, and the nature of the involvement in a murder, relatively unusual for a Politician in the UK, it is entirely conceivable that an arrest of any Westminster Politician during an election campaign could lead to similar accusations by short sighted Political colleagues.