There are some points in history which revolve around small clusters of individuals.

And if those individuals had made different choices, pursued different strategies,

walked out of a meeting or had a poorly timed nervous breakdown,

the world we live in today could look unrecognisable to us.

I'm currently sat in the James Connolly Centre on Falls Road in West Belfast and had our next guest made different decisions. This neighbourhood, this city, these counties

could very well still be a war zone. For years it would have been illegal for us to even broadcast

his voice, let alone sit down to talk with him. He was a terrorist in the eyes of our government,

who went on to shake the hands of

the now king Charles. He steered the Irish Republican cause from armed struggle to talks at the top

table and even now he is a deeply polarising figure. For many people he's a peacemaker, a civil rights icon.

For others, he's impossible to separate from the darkest days of the troubles and the disappearances and killings of the provisional IRA.

When I told people I was doing this interview, invariably I was met by a sharp intake of breath.

He is, possibly, the single most historically consequential figure we've ever interviewed on Downstream.

I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I enjoyed conducting it.

Jerry Adams, welcome to Downstream.

Thank you. Thank you very much for traveling all this way and

thank you for inviting me to take part in this discussion.

You might not be so gracious by the time we've finished. Let's see.

From 1988, for years your voice was banned from the airwaves.

Is that why you've now become a podcaster to make up for lost time?

No. I was tricked into being a podcaster by the people who

order me about the place.

...