Adams to step down at February Ard Fheis
SINN Fein’s Louth TD Gerry Adams has announced that he will be stepping down as party President on February 10th - the date when a special Ard Fheis that will elect the next leader of the party.
Writing in his blog ‘Leargas’, the sixty-nine old who has led the party since 1983, said: ‘ As most readers will know two months ago at the November Ard Fheis I told the party membership that it was my intention to step down as Uachtaráin Shinn Féin in the New Year. I asked the incoming Ard Chomhairle to organise a special Ard Fheis to elect a new leader.
He noted that there was ‘ intense media speculation about when this would happen’ and he accused those ‘ renowned for their anti-Sinn Féin bias’ of inventing a time frame for when this would happen.
‘Some suggested that my departure could take up to a year or that I wouldn’t stand down until the negotiations in the North had concluded, for good or ill. I have to say that none of that played any part in my decision. My one consideration was to provide the new leader with sufficient time to prepare him or herself for the next general election in the South.’
He expressed his confidence in Michelle O’Neill and her team in the North to negotiate with the DUP, the British and Irish governments and manage the challenge of finding a resolution to the crisis here.
Explaining the election process to find his successor, he said that ‘ for a candidate to be nominated they must be a member of the party for a minimum of one year and have renewed their membership for 2018. The prospective candidates also require the support of at least ten of the 300 plus registered cumainn across the island) or the support of two registered comhairle ceantair.
Nomination close on Friday January 19th and after that there will be a three week period for the candidates to speak to the party membership at specially convened regional meetings where candidates can debate their respective vision for the party and for the future, before delegates vote at the special Ard Fheis in the RDS, Dublin on Saturday February 10th.
He said that ‘ means up to 1,200 Sinn Féin members will participate in the democratic process of electing the next leader of the party.
He acknowledged that ‘ the new leader of Sinn Féin will face many challenges, some of these internal to the party as we seek to continue to grow in political strength and improve the skills of our activists.’
‘It is a fact that Sinn Féin is electorally and organisationally stronger than at any time since partition. This is as a result of the great team of political activists that we have consciously developed over recent years. We have to build on this and make Sinn Féin, as a national movement, fit for purpose.
He said that ‘ the new leader would also face external challenges including the need to agree a positive outcome to the negotiations to restore the power sharing, partnership institutions in the North; the all-island bodies established by the Good Friday Agreement; preparing the party for a general election in the 26 counties and potential elections in the North; and charting a course through the madness that is Brexit.’
Deputy Adams was elected to represent Sinn Fein in Louth in 2011, having resigned as MP of West Belfast.
He has also announced that he will not be contesting the next general election, Cllr Ruairí Ó Murchú receiving the party’s nomination to stand be stand as candidate for Louth and East Meath,