GERRY ADAMS’S DÁIL ELECTION MOVE | THE VIEW IN WEST BELFAST

Showing political leadership

BY SAM BAKER
Chairperson, West Belfast Sinn Féin

Gerry became president of Sinn Féin and was first elected as MP for West Belfast in 1983

ON behalf of West Belfast Sinn Féin I would like to pay tribute to the work Gerry Adams has done in representing this constituency. The enormous contribution that Gerry has made towards advancing the rights of the west Belfast community - and advancing Irish republicanism - over more than four decades of political activism is difficult to put into words.
His announcement that he will be seeking Sinn Féin’s nomination to contest the Louth seat in the general election is an act of true leadership in a period of unprecedented economic crisis. It is also a demonstration of Gerry’s commitment to advancing the republican project across the island.
It is such leadership that has characterised Gerry’s decades of political activism. We all know that he has been to the fore in developing the Peace Process and building Sinn Féin into a powerful political force nationally, to the point where we have topped the poll in the last two elections in the Six Counties.
But Sinn Féin are not content to build the political strength of the Republican Movement for the sake of it - what matters is what we do with the political strength we have achieved.
The extent of the economic, social and political crisis in the South is becoming starker each day and its impact will be felt for many years. The Fianna Fáil/Green Party Government’s moral bankruptcy, greed and arrogance is breath-taking. Its policies are condemning this and future generations of Irish people to poverty, unemployment, emigration and debt.
The British Tory-led Government is embarking on similar slash-and-burn policies that will have a negative impact in the North.
Sinn Féin is actively campaigning for an alternative approach based on stimulus measures rather than cuts to public services, and for control of the economy to be devolved from London to the Assembly.
Campaigning against the cuts is our number one priority across the island.
Despite the unprecedented crisis in the South, Labour and Fine Gael have signed up to the Fianna Fáil/Green coalition’s consensus for cuts. An alternative economic strategy is absolutely vital and Sinn Féin are the only ones providing it.
Senator Pearse Doherty has effectively challenged the Irish Government in forcing the long-overdue by-election in Donegal South-West.

Gerry’s move to seek the party’s nomination to contest the Louth Dáil seat can help energise and promote the Sinn Féin alternative and should be supported by all republicans and progressives across Ireland.
In the longer term, I think this move will be regarded as a definitive one in terms of Sinn Féin’s approach to developing the all-Ireland agenda and an all-Ireland party.
In west Belfast, under the leadership of Gerry Adams, Sinn Féin has experienced strong growth and taken great strides forward. In 1983, when Gerry became party president and was first elected MP for West Belfast, Alex Maskey entered Belfast City Council as the sole Sinn Féin representative.
Today, Sinn Féin in west Belfast have an MP, six MLAs and 13 councillors campaigning daily for the rights of the community in the Executive, Assembly and Belfast and Lisburn City Councils. We have built up a first-class constituency service across the west.
West Belfast Sinn Féin will seek to turn this development into an opportunity to enhance public representation for the local community. We will have two public representatives for the price of losing Gerry Adams: former Hunger Striker Pat Sheehan will be a full-time Assembly member co-opted in the place of Gerry Adams. The other activist will contest the by-election and, if elected, become the full-time MP for west Belfast. When the time comes, we will select the Sinn Féin candidate for that by-election.
In the meantime, Gerry Adams is committed to continuing as a powerful advocate for West Belfast as the MP for this constituency and as President of Sinn Féin. The MP’s office will naturally continue to be based in west Belfast and function as part of the constituency-wide service provided by Sinn Féin, which is unrivalled by other parties.
Gerry will be sorely missed as a west Belfast representative. He will continue to play a leading role in campaigns for truth and justice for the Ballymurphy and Springhill Massacre victims, on suicide prevention and strategic economic investment projects.
As the President of Sinn Féin, Gerry will naturally continue to play a leading role in the political life of west Belfast, which has the strongest concentration of republicans anywhere on this island. If he is elected to the Dáil, Gerry will be a voice for the people of west Belfast and the nationalist community of the Six Counties in Leinster House.
West Belfast can take pride in the fact that this community is making a huge investment in putting the national question centre-stage. Through the actions of Gerry Adams, the part of northern nationalists in the life and future of this country is now to the fore. In making this move to give political leadership in another part of our country which is only 45 minutes away, the President of Sinn Féin will show partition to be a farce and injustice.
If we are serious about transforming the economic and political destiny of the Irish people, brave steps need to be taken by each and every one of us.
We need to pull together and plan ahead. The people of west Belfast have much more to offer the future of the Irish nation.
We’re on the road to a new Irish Republic and there’s no turning back.