SF can’t rule until it gets its house in order first

THAT only a Sinn Féin government can fix the housing crisis will be the militant refrain from the RDS this weekend. The party leadership wants to focus its Ard Fheis agenda on the next steps in its project to rule Ireland north and south. But the justifiable attention on the housing emergency can’t disguise the fact Sinn Féin must also get its own house in order if it ever wants to be in a coalition in the Republic.

Gerry Adams’s conference will open tomorrow night with an address from the Lord Mayor of Dublin Micheál Mac Donncha (below), who has been in the spotlight this week.

The councillor, who once called the people behind Irish rugby “West Brits”, faced calls to resign after lambasting Bob Geldof’s attempts to highlight the “ethnic cleansing” of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar.

Mac

Donncha’s contribution will be followed by a 45-minute session on ‘Fixing the Housing Crisis’, followed by a speech from Northern leader Michelle O’Neill. Voters across the Border will be eagerly listening for any shift in attitude that could lead to the restoration of the Northern Assembly, eight months after Sinn Féin pulled it down.

Ms O’Neill is unlikely to offer up any such moment of enlightenment, which may prove ironic if everything goes according to plan for the Ard Comhairle later in the evening. And let’s be honest, the party members tend to agree with proposals from their ruling body.

Five motions on the clár for the ‘Sinn in Government’ section argue Sinn Féin should not enter a coalition unless it is the largest party or set red-line issues such as the abolition of property tax.

But it is the one from the party hierarchy that will pass, thereby opening up the possibility of a future deal with Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil. It proposes that if the party can secure a “progressive, Republican programme for government” then a special Ard Fheis should be called to vote on the document.

The purpose behind the shift in policy is obvious. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have rightly pointed out that up to now the party effectively disbarred itself from entering government.

That is changing, but other motions before the members suggest that change comes dropping slow.

Several motions call for the raising of corporation tax, and on abortion it seems likely that Sinn Féin will stop its TDs from voting with their conscience – unlike traditionally conservative parties of the centre.

Then there are the ongoing claims of bullying, which Mr Adams seems to believe are a series of unfortunate events.

Just before he takes to the stage on Saturday night Mr Adams will be re-elected as president for a 35th year – just two short of Robert Mugabe’s record in Zimbabwe.