SF growth a banker, says Ó Caoláin

NEXT Saturday, almost a decade since the lifting of Section 31 which banned Sinn Féin deputies from the airwaves, the proceedings of the party's Árd Fheis will be carried live on national television.

For the leader of its five TDs in the Dáil, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, it's another milestone on the party's inexorable march towards the mainstream of Irish politics.

"It's great progress it's been great being a part of that development. It could have gone the other way. But through all the long and difficult years, through a concerted and first-class leadership, Sinn Féin has now moved to centre-stage of political life in the island of Ireland. It's hugely important."