Gerry Adams has insisted he had “no involvement” in the killings of the Disappeared, including Jean McConville, as a new drama series launches on streaming giant Disney+.
The denial was issued through his solicitors ahead of Say Nothing hitting TV screens around the world on Thursday.
The nine-part series tells the story of Ms McConville, a Belfast widow and mother of 10 who was murdered and secretly buried during the Troubles.
It also depicts the troubled lives of IRA members Brendan Hughes and Marian and Dolours Price with plotlines spanning from the time of Ms McConville’s disappearance to the disappearance of others including Kevin McKee (17), Seamus Wright (25), and Joe Lynskey (40).
They were all abducted in Belfast in 1972 and subsequently buried in secret locations.
The remains of Mr Lynskey have still not been found alongside those of two others.
Viewers will become familiar with Mr Adams’ denial which features as a disclaimer in each episode of the series which is based on true events.
“Gerry Adams has always denied being a member of the IRA or participating in any IRA-related violence,” it reads.
The Irish Times asked the former Sinn Féin president to comment on the series and received a response from Mr Adams’ legal team who said their client has consistently asserted his innocence in respect of the death of Ms McConville.
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“Mr Adams had no involvement in the killing or burial of any of those secretly buried by the IRA,” legal representatives told the newspaper.
Whilst stressing that Mr Adams has not seen the drama, they said “according to media reports it is based primarily on interviews in the discredited Boston College Tapes from several anti-peace process republicans”.
Before their deaths, Hughes and Dolours Price both gave interviews in which they linked Mr Adams to an IRA unit associated with the killings.
The PSNI, following a lengthy legal battle, eventually obtained the transcripts resulting in two high profile arrests back in 2014 – veteran republican Ivor Bell and Gerry Adams.
Whilst the then Sinn Fein president was released without charge, Bell did face prosecution.
However, due to dementia he was deemed unfit to stand in the dock and a trial of the facts took place instead and cleared the pensioner of soliciting Ms McConville’s murder.
Ms Price, a former IRA bomber, gave an interview to a journalist in 2010 – three years before she died of an accidental lethal dose of prescription drugs – in which she admitted she had taken part in the secretive university project.
The Belfast woman, who was involved in the 1973 Old Bailey bombing which injured hundreds of people, also claimed to have been the person who drove Ms McConville to the place where she was shot dead.
Mr Adams’ solicitors said it is a matter of public record that their client “has worked closely with the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains to identify the location of those buried by the IRA”.
“The commission has located the remains of 13 bodies of those buried by the IRA,” they added,
“There are still three missing.
“The work continues.”