Sinn Féin Ard Fheis: Treading the line between cricket and royals
The first was expected — Mr Adams had been re-elected to the position unopposed once more.
The second announcement was altogether less predictable.
As the full-house crowd, which had swelled to include a spillover section in the lobby of the Millennium Forum in Derry who were watching on big screens, took a noticeable intake of breath minds momentarily wandered to what the pressing news could be.
Had a snap election been called? You wish.
Was this to be Gerry’s last year as president? No, but more on that time-keeping later.
What about Stormont? Could it be in trouble, again, and may not last until the end of the week again? Well...
Eventually, Ms Reilly put them out of their misery. Ireland had just beaten Zimbabwe in that most British of sporting events, the Cricket World Cup. Pimms to drink or not, it would have been difficult to find a happier crowd.
The dual image of Sinn Féin delegates cheering a cricket result as they warmly congratulated Mr Adams on his ongoing top-dog position was a small, almost forgettable moment in the ard fheis.
In many ways, though, it speaks volumes about the potential crossroads the party finds itself at as it tries to reach out to new voters and widen its increasing support while still holding onto the traditional core of its past.
Central to that approach is putting forward a more all-inclusive idea of what the party stands for, while remaining true to its long-standing policies.
It is a tricky tightrope to walk at the best of times, never mind when a general election is coming down the tracks, and one which ard fheis organisers were clearly schooled on long before the conference opened.
In the lobby at the front of the labyrinthine Millennium Forum, the pop-up stalls selling all kinds of Sinn Féin merchandise were awash with ‘Free Moore Street’ badges, sweat-shirts with a small tricolour emblazoned on them, and bodhráns complete with carefully crafted pictures of those revolutionary mainstays Che Guevara and Nelson Mandela. Formerly popular items including the phrases ‘Sniper At Work’ and ‘Brits Out’ were nowhere to be seen.
In the information lectures, discussions involved unionist marching bands, while, on the main stage, the Reverend Steve Stockman and Fr Martin Magill spoke on Friday and again on Saturday about the need for reconciliation — a word used so many times by Martin McGuinness, Gerry Adams, and others you almost had to duck to avoid it.
The images, just like the cricket, will help Sinn Féin appeal to an ever widening audience.
But among the delegates who spoke, the same controversial calls to ban the British royal family and government from the 1916 commemorations and a united Ireland within our lifetime remained to the fore, with a closing ceremony rendition of Amhrán na bhFiann giving more than a passing impression of churchgoers diligently singing a hallowed hymn than celebrating their heritage.
Whether it is a cosmetic PR makeover or a genuine attempt to move forward remains up for debate, but clearly small changes are afoot throughout the organisation as Sinn Féin bids for a place in government.
Small changes, but one big issue remains the same.
After the delight over the cricket result simmered down, Mr Adams began his keynote speech, hitting out over austerity measures in the Republic and ‘Tory’ cuts in the North.
Without warning, the Sinn Féin stalwart — who has in recent times undergone a major image switch from a censored politician with extraordinary insight into the provisional IRA in the 1980s, to being unable to travel to the US in the early 1990s as he was on a terrorist watch list, to the teddy-bear loving, trampoline bouncing Twitter svengali some know him as today — then broke away from the script to share a joke.
Looking directly at the crowd, he explained there is a small clock in the podium to tell him “how long I have left”. Smiling, he added: “But I can’t see it.”
He is still the party’s Mr Popular. But the joke will have touched a nerve with some younger, ambitious colleagues who have no link with a murky past and may be keen for a change of leader.
Great PR, popular policies and cutesy tweets can do a lot, but when people like Mairia Cahill — who trended on Twitter as Mr Adams spoke — continue to gain attention, Sinn Féin still have a problem that shows no sign of leaving any time soon.
Was this Gerry’s last year as leader? Was Stormont in trouble?
Read More: Sinn Féin Ard Fheis: Wealth tax in, property and water charges out
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