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Now there was a time when they used to say
That behind every – great man.
There had to be a – great woman.
But in these times of change you know
That it’s no longer true.
So we’re comin’ out of the kitchen
‘Cause there’s somethin’ we forgot to say to you
Sisters are doin’ it for themselves.
THE WORDS OF Aretha Franklin and the Eurythmics. This was the song Sinn Féin chose to close their special Ard Fhéis with yesterday afternoon.
A tongue-in-cheek and humorous nod to the two women elected to take the helm of the party and drive it forward.
It wasn’t the only song the 2000-strong delegates were treated to in the RDS Hall in Dublin.
There was a rendition of Something Inside So Strong, Oró Sé Do Bheatha Bhaile and singer Ryan Sheridan even stopped in to play his well-known song, Jigsaw.
A mix of the old and the new. Perhaps the theme Sinn Féin was going for yesterday. Respect and remembrance of the past, but a recognition that the party needs to step into a modern future.
But some things will never change in the Sinn Féin party, with the traditional singing of Amhrán na bhFiann also ending the day’s events.
The new Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and and deputy leader, Michelle O’Neill, the two women tasked with taking the lead, clasped hands as a rapturous applause erupted from the hall.
The pair, which Gerry Adams described as “brilliant, efficient women” earlier this week (likening them to RTÉ news anchors Keelin Shanley and Caitríona Perry while live on the Six One), were surrounded by their fellow party members on stage.
But there was one notable absence on stage. Gerry Adams.
A stark image to witness. A Sinn Féin party with no Adams. After 40 years in politics, Adams, a controversial, but significant political figure for decades, no longer at the centre of the action.
Yesterday’s limelight was indeed for the two women, though that didn’t stop the swarms of people surrounding the former leader, eager to get a selfie and perhaps an autograph as he made his way out of the hall.
Making his way through the media room, he beamed at reporters with a final, “Slán.” He did stop to shake a few people’s hands before swiftly exiting the main hall.
A historic day for the Sinn Féin party.
But what next?
The new party leader set out what she wants in her speech: A need to “modernise” and adapt the party’s “approaches and structures” as it seeks to double in size.
Ambitious, but it’s something McDonald knows is crucial if she wants to become a realistic threat to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
And do her members believe that will be a possibility one day? Short answer: Yes.
Displaying her Ard Fhéis pass from 1968, one Tyrone woman is ready for that shift.
“I think she’ll do great. Most definitely. It’s time for change and she’ll bring something different. It’s time for the young people,” she said.
Some question what those up the north make of a Dublin, middle-class career politician taking over as party leader, and wonder if she will be able to garner the same support Adams has. As a woman from the north herself, and someone deeply involved in the party, she said she has heard no such misgivings.
“Gerry has been great for the party, as was McGuinness, but I think she will do very well and will appeal to new group of people too,” she said.
Another supporter who had made her way to Dublin from Mayo said it was great to see a woman leading a political party, despite hearing about desire in some quarters for Pearse Doherty to be the successor.
In recent times, the party has been dogged by claims of bullying within Sinn Féin – something McDonald will have to take by the scruff of the neck if she wants her critics to take the “new” Sinn Féin seriously.
At grassroots level, members don’t shy away from the controversies with most noting that other parties also have internal disputes when asked about them.
“Our issue is that we probably grew too fast, faster than anyone thought, and with that issues can arise, and perhaps the structures weren’t in place to adequately deal with those problems, but I think it will be ironed out, eventually,” one party member told TheJournal.ie.
But, whatever the optimism, the party has serious challenges to face. Change within political organisations tends not to happen overnight, but in today’s climate, McDonald needs to work quickly. It will have to happen on her watch if she wants to move off the Opposition benches.
To deliver on ambitions for reform and modernisation to make Sinn Féin, in her own words, “into an organisation that is fit for purpose”, she is going to have to carve out a fresh way of doing things, and perhaps break from her party’s long-standing traditions.
McDonald’s Sinn Féin cannot behave as Adams’s did. Some say he, along with McGuinness, did what they needed during their time. On those traditions, they built a party and brought it through its adolescence. But if she wants to be Taoiseach Mary Lou McDonald will have to say goodbye to more than just Gerry Adams.
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Doin’ it for themselves. Sounds about right for Irish politicians. They are not doing it for you and I. Self serving, over paid and motivated to maintain the status quo.
@David Nolan: I’d give them a chance to prove your theory.
@David Nolan: Top comment! Got a laugh from it!
@Peter McGlynn: look how the Kingsmill bread moron was treated, they should have kicked him out right away. Politicians? Always look after their own first. Such a shame.
@David Nolan:
Mary Lou said ‘the war is long over. Wrong – there never was a war. There was a terrorist campaign in which YOUR LOT murdered IRISH children , women and men including Gardai and Prison Officers. Admittedly you were not a member then but you have repeatedly defended those, including Adams, who have blood on their hands. Until you condemn those killings your party will not grow here in the South. Euphemisms simply won’t do.
@Donal Hanley: that’s funny, because British soldiers that did a tour of duty in Northern Ireland receive a medal, and on the back of that medal there is an inscription that says “for campaign service”, that sounds like a war medal to me.
@Andrew Giles:
I just looked up campaign in the dictionary. Strangely ‘war’ is not mentioned.
The campaign was protecting the citizens in NI & GB from terrorists. Like your new deputy leader your education seriously inadequate.
@Donal Hanley: “Mary Lou said ‘the war is long over. Wrong – there never was a war.”
Soldiers carryig out massacres, ethnic cleansing, murder gangs, bombings?
Sounds a lot like a war to me.
What year were you born Donal?
@The Risen:
Now define a terrorist campaign genius.
@The Risen: Nope, sounds like a terrorist campaign to me, driven front and centre by the Provo’s.
@Donal Hanley: care to name an irish child that the ira killed??
@F. Wood:
Look up Omagh bombing
@Donal Hanley: Look up who carried out the Omagh bombing.
@Donal Hanley: Your ignorance is astounding.
@The Risen:
I don’t differentiate between your different designation. You’re all the same – same rotten origins.
@Donal Hanley: A “Protestant State for British Protestants in Ireland ” as define by the leader of that State in the 1970s! Thats is the ultimate terrorism rotten to the core ‘Evil Empire’.
@Donal Hanley: my deputy leader, hahaha you know absolutely nothing about me, the reason I know what it says on the back of that medal, is that my father was given one
Before any party members comment on social media regarding this event, per yesterday’s executive order, it is mandatory that you observe party policy of clearing it with HQ first.
Thank you.
@alphanautica: ha!
@alphanautica:
You will find that would be every party’s policy to go through press office
@Fran Kembo: whoosh
@alphanautica: only 9 hours before you posted this bs you stated you were bored with sf stories yet here you are….did your shift start at 7?..is .frape room double time for Sunday?..
@alphanautica: He hasn’t gone away you know.
@Henry Matthews: Its a bit early for tears Henry :-)
@Honeybadger197: hi alpha…
It’s surprising to be elected when you are the only candidate!!
@Rory:
How do you find that surprising if she was and is the best candidate for leader why would you oppose her
@Fran Kembo: rubbish comment and you know it
Interesting to watch this new Dawn and see Sinn Fein grow and grow while Fianna Fail fade away into Fine Gael where they rightfully belong.
@Paul Mc: The deluded addressing the deluded.
@Paul Mc: a new dawn, where they can follow the route of the PD’s, Labour and thr Greens by going into govt with FF or FG, riding the gravy train for a few years, betraying their support bsse and get swallowed up, disappearing into relative oblivion
@Paul Mc: Grow and grow? Do tell.
@JimmyMc: That certainly won’t happen the the Sinn Fein membership would not allow it .
@MK76: while I would love to see a viable alternative to fffg, I think SF will actually become less relevant when they are seen as just an equality party, rather than the edge that their demographic voted for (ie killers with a back story, parading as anti establishment). Let’s put this to the test in the next election in Louth when mlmd is the canvasser instead of Adams.
The growth of the party frightening the be jaysus outta Mehole and Leo ;)
The attacks by the media and FG shills on here in overtime…
Winds of change can’t be stopped..
@Willy Malone: Mary Loo will be calling Mehole “Boss” in no time. Reduced to a big beautiful shinner mudflap!
@The Risen: Oh look, my little impersonator is back LOL!
By the way, I’m wearing blue jeans and a red short sleeve shirt if you want to go the whole hog.
@The Risen: same muppet as yesterday?
@We Love Katamari: Most definitely
As she said make it fit for purpose. So people down the years criticising SF were correct.
I met Mary Lou in Tuam, along with survivors of the home. Her empathy was palpible. She also has great commitment to social advancement. I wish her all the best and to the day when she will be Taoiseach of a united, socially-advanced and peaceful Ireland.
@Niall Conneely: nearly all politicians are impressive and empathetic when you meet them. Unfortunately, that is the front they all have. For a united Ireland, we need people like SF to be more open that they have not been in 40 years to the population of Northern Ireland. Similarly, for a peaceful island we need to stop electing people who have orchestrated the violence in the first place.
@Gulliver Foyle: we dont elect people who orchestrated the violence. The ira in the north emerged as a result of loyalists ethnically cleansing belfast and nationalists being murdered on a daily basis with no help from the police. As for transparency and being open with citizens why wont fg support the sf initiative of a truth comission?
A new dawn for Sinn Féin. It will be interesting to watch.
@john Appleseed: It will be equally as interesting to watch how the establishment react. For a long time there have been calls for Adams to step down if the party wanted to progress. There’s a lot of work to be done to shape the party into a viable alternative to the merry-go-round of FF/FG.
The reaction of the media will also be interesting and most telling.
@Dave Doyle: or if Sinn Fein change in any way
@john Appleseed:
Whatever about Mary Lou will somebody please tell me how the BLAND Bombshell is educationally qualified for her role?
@john Appleseed: New dawn indeed — in fact new dawn is much like the old dawn. And what i mean by old dawn is exactly the same… if there was to be a new dawn then like every other party there would be a leadership contest – contesting leadership is a hallmark of democracy as it shows differing views within a party with the membership deciding on a certain direction…… only one direction SF is going and now they have a more palatable figurehead.
He hasn’t gone away you know!
Mary Lou -Michelle-Arlene-Theresa May and Caroline Bradley-Its definitely Women Power now.
@TheBluffmaster2: all useless.
@Keith D’Arcy: I suppose it would be too much to ask that they would knock their heads together and sort the Northern question.
@TheBluffmaster2: ya but I don’t hear any feminists congratulating them or claiming their achievements. Most feminists just like to revere the ones that shout the loudest about change, they seem to ignore the women that don’t have time to shout about feminism because they are living it
A significant moment no doubt. Will the opposition now react with the change required? Namely the formal amalgamation of FF and FG into one party. The time is now to apply pressure to ensure this comes to pass. Mary Lou could help drive this forward. The biggest mistake Sinn Fein can make is prop up one of these Labour style and facilitate FFG controlling both government and opposition benches.
Fair play to the Shinners this party rejuvenation has been at least a decade in the making. Imagine what the ruling juntas could have achieved if they had the vision and backbone to stick at anything.
I wonder where she learned the “Tiocfaidh ar la!
We had an female minister for justice and Garda Commissioner.
How did gender equality work out there ?
Ffs
Will there be a Wolfe Tones cover version any time soon?
Different faces but same ol SF hypocrisy.
Did they fire off their kalashnikovs into the air and shout Mary Lou Akbar?
Two songs come to mind, “Single Girls (Put A Sock In It)” by Beyonce and “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” by Cyndi Pauper.
As a former Fianna Failer Mary Lou is the ideal choice to lead the shinners into coalition with the Blueshirts, where they can sell out their voters and pay for it later, ala so-called Labour-not a principled bone between them, and plenty of shadowy figures still pulling nasty nasty strings!
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