Gerry Adams' claim that his libel case was about "putting manners" on the BBC was chilling and unfair under the circumstances, the Irish secretary of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has said.

For years British and Irish journalists have treated Mr Adams’s denials as they would a claim that water isn’t wet. The statement is reported, but almost no one believes it. Despite thousands of references to his alleged IRA activities over the years,