Say Nothing

by Patrick Radden Keefe

  ‘not only did he discuss his own terrorist activities’: Ibid.

  One day in April 2016: Jeffrey Swope, email message to Anthony McIntyre, 23 April 2016.

  The authorities were alleging: Detective Chief Inspector Peter Montgomery, PSNI, to the Public Prosecution Service, 9 February 2015.

  then the state could fish happily: Interview with Anthony McIntyre.

  Had the police actually checked: Fourth Affidavit of Anthony McIntyre, in the Matter of an Application by Anthony McIntyre for Judicial Review, High Court of Northern Ireland, Queens Bench Division, August 2016.

  In 2010, the body of Peter Wilson: ‘Walking the Line’, radio documentary, produced by Ciaran Cassidy (RTÉ Radio, 2014); ‘Peter Wilson: “Disappeared” by the IRA, Found at the Beach His Family Treasured’, Belfast Telegraph, 3 November 2010.

  The scandal of the Boston tapes: Interview with Geoff Knupfer and Dennis Godfrey.

  ‘complete confidence’: ‘Forms to Identify Interview Tapes “Lost”’, Irish News, 8 May 2014.

  They brought in a sniffer dog: ‘“Preliminary Work” Begins to Recover Remains of Joe Lynskey’, Irish News, 7 November 2014.

  December, Lynskey’s niece: ‘Disappeared Victim’s Family “Hopeful” As Dog Aids Search’, Irish News, 2 December 2014.

  ‘Something’s here!’: Interview with Geoff Knupfer.

  Someone alerted Maria Lynskey: ‘Emotional Scenes As Families of Two IRA “Disappeared” Visit Site’, Irish Independent, 26 June 2015.

  Investigators had discovered: Interview with Geoff Knupfer.

  But they had discovered: Ibid.; ‘Courage and Resilience of Family Praised As Disappeared Man Finally Gets Proper Burial’, Irish News, 16 September 2015.

  ‘ageing philosopher king’: David Ireland, Cyprus Avenue (London: Bloomsbury, 2016), p.16.

  ‘I think that Gerry Adams has disguised himself’: Ibid., p.16.

  ‘No, this is the now’: Ibid., p.43.

  ‘Because I was so institutionalised’: HIA transcript.

  As he was succumbing to cancer: ‘Billy McConville Brought His Family Back Together, Mourners Told’, Irish News, 26 July 2017.

  ‘You were so strong and unbelievably brave’: ‘Son of Murdered Jean McConville Brought His Family Back Together, Funeral Told’, Irish Examiner, 26 July 2017.

  ‘plunged Billy and his brothers and sisters’: ‘Billy McConville Brought His Family Back Together, Mourners Told’, Irish News, 26 July 2017.

  ‘properly follow the course of proceedings’: ‘Republican Charged over Jean McConville Murder “Has Dementia”’, Irish Times, 5 December 2006.

  wanted to inspect Bell’s medical record: Ibid.

  The firm announced: Matthew Jury, email message to author; ‘McConville Daughter to Seek Civil Case’, Irish News, 1 October 2015.

  ‘We have already been fighting for justice for forty-odd years’: ‘Jean McConville’s Family Will “Fight to the Bitter End for Justice”’, Independent, 4 May 2014.

  Chapter 30: The Unknown

  I interviewed a man who had seen McClure: Interview with Joe Clarke.

  Then, one day, I learned: The friend was Adam Goldman, now of the New York Times.

  McClure died in 1986: According to an obituary, McClure died after ‘a brief illness’. He was 46. ‘Patrick F. McClure, Obituary’, Record-Journal (Meriden, Conn.), 5 December 1986.

  For five years before his death: Ibid.

  he was a parishioner at his local Catholic church: ‘Patrick F. McClure – Obituary’, Observer (Southington, Conn.), 11 December 1986.

  And he gave me one further clue: I contacted two representatives for Gerry Adams seeking a reaction to this claim, but neither responded to confirm or deny.

  ‘he wanted my sister to be his driver’: P-EM.

  A representative for Adams: Richard McAuley, email message to author.

  ‘something that the sisters had done together’: Anonymous source.

  He never wrote back: The lawyer, whom I wrote to several times, by email and post, was Peter Corrigan, of KRW Law, who also represented Ivor Bell.

  Some observers wondered: ‘Gerry Adams: “I Won’t Be a Puppet Master”’, Belfast Telegraph, 4 January 2018.

  ‘Martin McGuinness was a freedom fighter’: ‘Gerry Adams: “Martin McGuinness Was Not a Terrorist”’, BBC News, 23 March 2017.

  ‘the whiff of cordite’ about him: ‘Adams “Relaxed” over Poll Doubting His Denial of IRA Membership’, Irish Times, 20 May 2014. Many voters also believed Adams played a role in the disappearance of Jean McConville: ‘Half of Voters Believe Adams Was Involved in McConville Murder’, Irish Independent, 17 May 2014.

  surreal culmination on Twitter: In 2016, Adams released a slim compendium, My Little Book of Tweets (Cork, Ireland: Mercier Press, 2016).

  ‘I do love teddy bears’: ‘Gerry Adams Tweets: Ducks, Teddy Bears and a Dog Called Snowie’, BBC News, 4 February 2014.

  ‘Charles Manson showing you his collection’: Damien Owens (@OwensDamien), ‘Gerry Adams tries too hard to be cute and whimsical on Twitter. It’s like Charles Manson showing you his collection of tea cosies’, Twitter, 2 January 2014, 1:11 p.m.

  ‘propagandising for his own humanity’: O’Doherty, Gerry Adams, p.68.

  democratic action: Alvin Jackson, Home Rule: An Irish History, 1800–2000 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), p.287.

  ‘getting a hundred people to push this boat out’: H-BC.

  the war may be won by demography: ‘“Catholic Majority Possible” in NI by 2021’, BBC News, 19 April 2018.

  After the 2008 fiscal crisis and the subsequent recession: ‘Survey Deals Blow to Sinn Féin Hopes of United Ireland’, Guardian, 17 June 2011.

  ‘Outbreeding Unionists may be an enjoyable pastime’: ‘The Survivor’, Guardian, 30 April 2001.

  inevitably, complicates that split identity: For a meditation on the border in the age of Brexit, see Susan McKay, ‘Diary’, London Review of Books, 30 March 2017.

  ‘But I just think the notion of Irish unity’: ‘Gerry Adams Takes Parting Shot at UK – Brexit Has BOOSTED United Ireland Campaign’, Daily Express, 9 February 2018.

  he would like to see a new referendum: ‘Gerry Adams Tells Irish America of Party’s Aim for a Unity Referendum Within Five Years’, Irish News, 10 November 2017.

  ‘only if I achieve the situation where my people’: Gerry Adams (as Brownie), ‘I Am an IRA Volunteer’, Republican News, 1 May 1976.

  ‘I am perfectly at peace’: ‘I Don’t Have Any Blood on My Hands’, Sunday Life, 21 February 2010.

  ‘Through the whole Troubles, there was never any hassle’: Interview with Michael McConville.

  Pigeons were one of the first animals: Andrew Blechman, Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World’s Most Revered and Reviled Bird (New York: Grove Press, 2006), p.11.

  Sometimes, when they get home after a long race: Kevin C. Kearns, Dublin Street Life & Lore: An Oral History (Dun Laoghaire: Glendale, 1991), pp.195–98.

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