SF Árd Fheis - Hopes of new beginning for Sinn Féin
The milestone conference in the RDS in Dublin is overshadowed by the events of the past few weeks, which will cause the leadership and delegates to ponder what direction the party is to take.
They have two options. The party can continue on its present course and continue to be excluded from shaping the democratic future of the North, which it aspires to, or embark on the only route which will see that aspiration fulfilled.
Possibly, a pragmatic appraisal of where they are now, and how and why they got there, will encourage Sinn Féin to realise that it is time to commit totally to democratic politics with absolutely no equivocation through its IRA links.
The reality is that Sinn Féin is in a political cul-de-sac it could never have envisaged being in.
It is there because of the appalling murder of Robert McCartney and, to a lesser extent, by the fallout from the Northern Bank robbery?
In the relatively short span of two months the party has been overwhelmed by these two events, but especially by the brutal murder of the father-of-two.
Importantly, the courage of the McCartney family has galvanised a veritable revolt in Sinn Féin’s constituency and revulsion across the entire island.
In the South, it was manifested in the most recent public opinion poll which showed a slump in the party’s support. Sinn Féin opts for a more optimistic reading of the polls, alluding to the fact that at 9% the party is up two percentage points since the 2002 general election.
It need hardly be pointed out that their political currency at that stage was popular, in comparison to the devaluation which followed upon the Northern Bank robbery and, more particularly, the horrific murder of Robert McCartney.
Leader Gerry Adams also suffered a major rebuff to his personal rating in the previous poll, when it plummeted 20 points to 31%.
The three governments are at one in unequivocally insisting that the party divorces itself completely from criminality and paramilitarism before it engages again with the peace process.
Sanctions were imposed by the British Government in the wake of the report into the bank raid by the Independent Monitoring Commission and the invitation to the White House was not issued to Northern politicians solely because of Sinn Féin.
Although Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has been steadfast against imposing sanctions, government doors have been closed to Sinn Féin and even at official level there is no traffic between the Department of Foreign Affairs and their negotiators.
Despite that, Mr Ahern has adroitly manoeuvred through the past eight weeks, fraught with calamitous possibilities for the peace process, to endeavour to convince Sinn Féin there is only one possible way ahead. Again this week, after a meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Mr Ahern reiterated that it was his view that the leadership of Sinn Féin does want a comprehensive political deal for the North.
Maybe the party leadership has become cognisant of their own people’s demand for change and this may be reflected in the suspension of seven members in connection with the McCartney murder.
Supplying those names to the police ombudsman also denotes a major change in attitude.
Hopefully, it also marks a new beginning.
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