Gerry Adams was branded “absurd” and “disingenuous” by the top US diplomat in Ireland, leaked cables reveal.

The remarks from Ambassador James Kenny came after the Sinn Fein president had claimed there was no link between republican activism and criminality.

His comments are reported in a leaked diplomatic cable released to the Belfast Telegraph by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, and provide another insight into how our politicians are viewed by others.

Mr Kenny’s dispatch was sent following a speech in which Mr Adams sought to distance republicans from crime.

Ahead of a meeting with then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in Dublin, he said republicans were highly sensitive to any attempt to link them with criminality.

“You cannot be a criminal and a republican activist. You cannot be involved in any criminality and involved in republican activism,” Mr Adams said at the time.

His remarks in December 2004 came just a week before the Northern Bank raid, which was widely blamed on the IRA.

In the confidential cable, Mr Kenny (right) warned that Sinn Fein had “hurt its standing” with the Irish government. Referring to Mr Adams’ comments on crime, he described how they had appeared “absurd and disingenuous at best.”

In a second dispatch, Ambassador Kenny states that Mr Adams is “tactically smart” by insisting on working with “the top level of government only” – noting that Mr Ahern is generally considered softer on republicans.

“This is tactically smart of Gerry Adams, especially if he, like others, sees the Taoiseach as less tough on republicans than the outspoken Justice Minister [Michael McDowell] or quieter but equally firm Foreign Minister [Dermot Ahern],” Mr Kenny writes.

Other cables detail how Mr Adams was accused of playing “a double game” on criminality by Brian Cowen, then Finance Minister in the Irish government.

According to one document, Mr Cowen claimed he publicly took a hard

line against criminality but avoided direct action to leave room for negotiating.

The cable was written five weeks after Robert McCartney was murdered outside a Belfast bar.

His family claimed the IRA was involved in the January 2005 killing, with one member accusing Sinn Fein of being part of a cover-up.

“Cowen related his impression that Gerry Adams was playing a ‘double game’ – taking a hard public line against criminality, but avoiding definitive action in order to retain maneuverability for final negotiations with unionists,” the cable states.

“Cowen thought the family of murder victim Robert McCartney had done a valuable public service in exposing this form of equivocation.”

In another cable, the Irish government told diplomats it had “rock solid evidence” that Mr Adams was part of the IRA military command – a claim he has consistently denied. The cable relates to the Northern Bank robbery and claims that Mr Adams and party colleague Martin McGuinness had advanced knowledge of the IRA’s £26m heist.

Another dispatch, again written by Ambassador Kenny, suggests Mr Ahern deliberately snubbed Mr Adams after the raid.

The claim was made in a dispatch reporting on a meeting with Michael Collins from the Taoiseach’s office.

“Collins avoided saying that the Taoiseach is deliberately holding Sinn Fein at arm’s length, but Ahern certainly could have made time to meet with Adams if he had wanted to,” the cable also reports.

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