SINN FÉIN president Gerry Adams will this week quit the Stormont Assembly to enable him to contest the next Dáil election. He also plans to resign his West Belfast seat at Westminster.
Mr Adams said he would seek the Sinn Féin nomination in the Louth constituency ahead of the next general election following the announcement that party colleague Arthur Morgan will not seek re-election.
Addressing the 53rd anniversary commemoration of five IRA men killed by their own bomb at Edentubber on the Border in 1957, Mr Adams linked his candidacy to opposition to current economic policy.
“As the leader of Sinn Féin, in this time of crisis in our country, I am making a stand with this initiative – a stand for a better, fairer, united Ireland. I believe that things can be turned around. There is a better way,” he said.
Mr Adams said his move was “a measure of our determination to provide a real alternative to the consensus for cuts being pushed by other parties”.
He accused the Government of “implementing deeply damaging policies” and claimed it had no mandate to do so.
“I want to be part of the necessary fightback against bad economic policies in both parts of this island and for a fair, decent and united society for all the people of Ireland.”
Aside from Mr Morgan, the other TDs in the Louth constituency are Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern of Fianna Fáil; Mr Ahern’s party colleague Ceann Comhairle Seamus Kirk; and Fine Gael’s Fergus O’Dowd. While the constituency will become a five-seater in the next election, the Ceann Comhairle is automatically returned.
The Labour Party candidate is expected to be Cllr Gerald Nash, while the Greens will most likely field Senator Mark Dearey.
Fine Gael MEP Maireád McGuinness has ruled herself out. Sinn Féin secured 15 per cent of the first preference vote at the last general election, with Mr Morgan taking the final seat.
Local Sinn Féin councillor Tomás Sharkey had been expected to seek the nomination. “We’re very positive about this and are all up for it. It’s a very brave initiative and will be very exciting for Sinn Féin and the country,” Mr Sharkey said.
Meanwhile, Mr Adams condemned the lack of speaking rights in the Dáil for Northern elected representatives despite commitments to facilitate them from former taoiseach Bertie Ahern. “If elected for this constituency I will work and stay here and travel home when possible,” he said.
He said both Ireland and Leinster House needed change along with “new politics” and a “political realignment”.
He also condemned the Opposition parties. “A change of government without a change in policies will be worthless,” Mr Adams said.
“A Fine Gael government, propped up by the Labour Party, is not a real alternative. They are part of the consensus for cuts,” he added.
He cited the transformation of Northern Ireland since the peace process as evidence of the change that could be brought about in the Republic.
“Sinn Féin has led that transformation. We have demonstrated what is possible when people work together in the common good, in the national interest and for the benefit of all.”
The party believes that the case of Mr Adams’s brother Liam, who is wanted in Northern Ireland to face charges of sexual abuse of his own daughter, will not unduly damage the Sinn Féin president’s chances of election.
Sinn Féin sources insisted last night that Mr Adams’s decision to seek the Louth nomination was as a result of chance factors, namely the decision of Mr Morgan not to run again, the economic crisis and the possibility of an election soon.