Hand of history heavy on its shoulder as party looks to future

THE slogan for Sinn Féin’s Árd Fheis screamed “Republicanism in the 21st Century”, but the past sticks to the soul of the party like chewing gum to the sole of a shoe.

Every time someone tried to scrape it off by pushing a debate on broadband or genetic modification, someone else stamped it firmly back in place by calling for greater wearing of the Easter lily, or the printing of Amhrán na bhFiann on school stationery.

In the RDS canteen delegates may have dined on a sophisticated spread of breast of chicken wrapped in parma ham with tomato fondue, but in the main hall the fare was more like the political equivalent of nouvelle cuisine with egg and chips on the side.