The surprise announcement by Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams at a leading republican commemoration that he intends to give up his seats at Westminster and Stormont to try for a seat in the Dáil is being compared to Charles Dickens’ novel A Tale of Two Cities.
West Belfast is Mr Adams’ personal political empire and his foray south of the border via Louth to Dublin can either be seen as the folly that was the Charge of the Light Brigade or as Texan hero Sam Huston’s clever outwitting of the mighty Mexican army.
In the north, Mr Adams now plays second fiddle profile-wise to fellow Sinn Féin MLA and MP, and Stormont’s Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness. At 62, it might make sense for Mr Adams to seek a new political stage.
The more credible reason though, according to Sinn Féin sources, is to try and do better – with a political big hitter – than the party did in the general election of 2007 when, instead of winning 10 or 12 seats and holding the balance of power in the republic, Sinn Féin lost a seat and, with just five of 166 TDs, was pushed to the periphery of politics in the south of Ireland.
Now, with a country once hailed as an economic Celtic tiger facing an economic tragedy of Greek proportions, and both main political parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, in considerable disarray, Sinn Féin strategists feel the time is right for an all-Ireland party to put forward a left-wing platform to disenchanted voters in the south.
If Mr Adams’ gamble pays off, Sinn Féin could hold the balance of power next year – and be in office at Stormont and the Dáil – its best political outcome since it won most of Ireland’s seats in the House of Commons at the general election of 1919.
