BY JOHN COULTER Irish political journalist
The battle of the sexes will engulf the republican movement as women will seek to break male-run Sinn Fein in the forthcoming fight to replace party president and West Belfast MP Gerry Adams, as well as Deputy First Minister and Mid Ulster MP Martin McGuinness.
The Dail Disaster is to Sinn Fein what the Dromore Debacle was to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).
Just as the Paisley camp not winning a council seat in what should have been a rock solid DUP constituency unleashed a bloodless coup to force Paisley senior to ‘retire’, so too, many grassroots republicans have decided a radical change at the top of Sinn Fein will reverse the party’s fortunes in future Southern polls.
While the DUP has lined up a ‘dream team’ of Peter Robinson from the modernist wing along with Nigel Dodds from the fundamentalist faction, with Lagan Valley’s Jeffrey Donaldson keeping the peace between the rival wings – who is Sinn Fein’s dream team to succeed the Adams/McGuinness leadership?
Sinn Fein has two choices – put in place a team where the perception is that the party is still controlled by the IRA’s Army Council, or install a leadership which IRA supporters would view as ‘draught dodgers’ – never having served with the Provos.
Equally, there are those within Sinn Fein who maintain the party is inextricably linked to the IRA, because it was the terror war which provided the political clout for Sinn Fein.
The Army Council, existing IRA volunteers, inmates and ex-prisoners, all played a vital role in deciding the direction of the peace process.
To abandon the military voice would be tantamount to treason in their supporters‚ eyes.
But a growing modernising wing disagrees with these traditionalists.
They want to see Sinn Fein evolve into a truly democratic movement, fearing the open links to the IRA and Sinn Fein’s perceived hard Left wing economic policy will further damage the party in the Republic.
For the modernisers, three policies are crucial – no more ex-IRA inmate candidates; take seats at Westminster and dump the Marxist rhetoric.
They want to build Sinn Fein into a 21st century version of the now defunct constitutional republican movement, the Irish Independence Party – once fronted by North Antrim Protestant republican Councillor John Turnley.
Ironically, another battle will manifest itself in the succession race – between Sinn Fein’s growing number of female elected representatives and the male ‘old guard’.
In this respect, there are four separate factions vying for the leadership – a female modernising wing against a traditionalist female front, taking on modernising males and male traditionalists.
Here’s the five-strong dream teams for the various camps:
The modernising females:
Southern MEP Mary Lou McDonald for party president, with Michelle Gildernew, Sinn Fein’s Fermanagh South Tyrone MP and Stormont farming minister, as her deputy.
Their main party front bench trio would be blonde bombshell Mid Ulster’s Michelle O’Neill; Northern MEP and former Stormont health minister Bairbre de Brun; and North Belfast MLA Caral Ni Chuilin.
The traditionalist females:
Stormont education boss Caitriona Ruane from South Down and Colombia Three campaigner as party president; her deputy would be former IRA activist Martina Anderson, the Foyle MLA and the party’s former director of unionist engagement.
The front bench trio are West Belfast’s Jennifer McCann, who organised an international women’s day tribute to Gibraltar Three IRA member, Mairead Farrell, who was shot dead by the SAS; another West Belfast MLA Sue Ramsey, and West Tyrone’s Claire McGill.
The modernising males would include:
Assembly group leader John O’Dowd as party president; his deputy would be Paul Maskey, the West Belfast MLA.
Their front bench trio would be Maskey senior – Alex from South Belfast, Sinn Fein’s first Belfast Lord Mayor; North Antrim MLA and Policing Board member Daithi McKay, the Assembly’s youngest MLA; and former party chairman and South Antrim MLA Mitchel McLaughlin.
The traditionalist male dream team comprises Stormont Junior Minister and former IRA Maze escapee Gerry Kelly from North Belfast, with Lagan Valley MLA and Sinn Fein’s Stormont Commissioner Paul Butler as his deputy.
The traditional front bench trio comprises West Tyrone duo Pat Doherty and Barry McElduff, joined by Newry and Armagh MLA and Stormont regional development minister Conor Murphy.
While these four leadership teams are Northern based, they do not rule a strong challenge from the party’s Southern TDs, headed by Dail Sinn Fein leader Caoimhghlin O Caolain.
This could be a forerunner to a separate Southern Sinn Fein party to win back votes and seats lost in the May 2007 Dail poll.
