DUBLIN (Reuters) - Mary Lou McDonald was confirmed as the new president of Sinn Fein on Saturday, taking over from Gerry Adams in a handover that could advance the nationalist party’s ambition of governing on both sides of the Irish border.

Sinn Fein's President-elect, Mary Lou McDonald and Sinn Fein Deputy Michelle O'Neill, pose for a photograph before a special party conference, at which Gerry Adams will, following a vote, formally step down as President, in Dublin, Ireland, February 10, 2018. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

The election of a woman from a younger generation, who had no direct involvement in the 30-year Northern Irish conflict, represents a considerable break with the past for the former political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

McDonald, 48, a Dublin-born politician from a middle class background, was the only lawmaker to put her name forward to succeed Adams, who led the left-wing party since 1983 when the new leader was just 14 years of age.

“The war is over,” McDonald told party members in a speech in which she quoted American poet and civil rights champion Maya Angelou and praised Adams as a “political giant”.

“Now as a new generation takes the reins of leadership, our job is to bring innovative and modern ways of advancing our politics. Now is the time for fresh thinking and bold ideas.”

McDonald, who was a member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2009 when she became Adams’ number two, wants to build on the progress made over the past two decades since the Northern Irish troubles ended.

Adams, who has always denied being a member of the IRA but for many was seen as the face of its bloody war against British rule brought to an end by a 1998 peace deal, is credited with transforming the party into a political force across the island it ultimately wants to unite.

Sinn Fein has shared power in the British province of Northern Ireland since 2007 and is in talks to restore devolved government there, but it has never governed in the Republic where it has established itself as the third largest party.

McDonald could oversee the party’s return to power in Belfast as soon as next week and will seek to enter government at elections in the south expected within the next 12 months.

But she takes over following a series of resignations and suspensions that have posed questions about the party’s professionalism.

Recent surveys suggest some skeptical voters would be more willing to vote for Sinn Fein under McDonald than Adams, who played a low key role on Saturday and did not address members.

“The new leader will attract a different vote. There are people who love or hate Gerry Adams and I think Mary Lou will bring more neutral people to the party. We have to progress and she’s part of our progression,” Michael Gallagher, a 62-year-old councillor from county Meath told Reuters from the floor of the convention.

“I think the new leadership will change the culture of the party. We could have difficulties in the North trying to hold our people together ... (but) she will increase the electoral possibilities in the South.”</s>Gerry Adams has handed over the leadership of Sinn Féin to Mary Lou McDonald after 35 years as president.



More than 2,000 Sinn Féin delegates attended a special Ard Fheis conference in Dublin’s RDS arena on Saturday to see McDonald confirmed as Adams’ successor.

In her first speech as party president, McDonald said she wanted to secure and win a referendum on Irish unity. “I want us to achieve this with respect, graciousness and generosity. Irish unity cannot be a crude exercise of simply stitching north to south and returning to business as usual.”

She said that as a new generation took the reins of Sinn Féin leadership, it was time to bring “innovative and modern ways of advancing our politics”.

“Our focus must be on building Sinn Féin into an organisation that is fit for purpose, and our purpose is to win, to win elections, to increase our political strength, to realise our ambition of being in government north and south, to win progressive political victories every single day. And ultimately to win Irish unity.”

McDonald said Brexit represented a real threat to the prosperity, economic, social and political life of Ireland. “It fundamentally challenges 20 years of hard-won progress. There can be no imposition of a border on the island of Ireland. Ireland will not be the collateral damage in the political games and antics of Tories in London.”

Referring to the political crisis at Stormont, she insisted Sinn Féin was “up for a deal”. She said: “We are committed to real power-sharing, to working for agreement with our unionist partners. We want the assembly and executive up and running. This can only happen on the basis of equality, respect and integrity for all. The talks are ongoing. The Sinn Féin team is committed to a positive outcome.”

Paying tribute to Adams, McDonald said: “There would be no Good Friday agreement, no peace process without Gerry Adams. My political mentor. An inspirational leader. A great friend.

“When others said it was impossible, Gerry Adams, along with Martin McGuinness, John Hume and indeed others, bravely walked the path to peace.”

Adams said on the eve of the handover that he was confident McDonald would “make Sinn Féin even bigger and stronger”.

“We have made some progress but there are still considerable obstacles. But, as I said to our unionist friends, this is the last chance agreement,” he said.

McDonald inherits a party with growing support on both sides of the border but still under the shadow of the Provisional IRA’s 35-year campaign of violence.

Even though she had no personal connections to the Troubles in the north, McDonald has faced questions about the legitimacy of that IRA campaign. She also has to change the public image of a party many see as under top-down control, with more than 10 councillors in the Irish Republic resigning over the past few years after alleging they were bullied by the party’s internal apparatus.

Michelle O’Neill, the Sinn Féin leader in the currently deadlocked Northern Ireland assembly, was elected party vice-president by delegates on Saturday.</s>Gerry Adams steps down as leader of Sinn Féin

Gerry Adams resigns after 34 years as head of Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland. Mary Lou McDonald takes over the helm.

69-year-old Adams was elected deputy leader of the Leftist Party in 1978 and took over as party leader in 1983. During Sinn Féin’s congress in Dublin last November he announced he would take his leave in 2018.

– Leadership also entails knowing when it’s time for change, and that time is now, he said at the time.

In January it became clear that Adams would be succeeded by 48-year-old Mary Lou McDonald, who officially takes over on Saturday.

– There are some big shoes I have to fill when I take over after Gerry Adams, and I know that it is impossible to do so. M – But I’ve got my own shoes, and together with all the other party members I’m starting on a journey that will ultimately lead to Irish unification, she states on Saturday.

McDonald has been a member of the European Parliament since 2004 and has been the deputy chairperson of Sinn Féin since 2009. She has even been a member of the Irish Parliament since 2011.

Adams was one of the architects behind the so-called Good Friday Agreement, which formed the basis for the peace process in Northern Ireland.

Adams was elected to the British Parliament during the periods 1983-92 and 1997-2011, but did not meet because he refused to swear allegiance to the Queen. From 1998 to 2010 he was also a member of the Northern Ireland National Assembly.

Sinn Féin (/ʃɪn ˈfeɪn/ shin-FAYN; Irish pronunciation: [ʃɪnʲ ˈfʲeːnʲ]; English: Ourselves or We Ourselves[5]) is a left-wing Irish republican political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith. It took its current form in 1970 after a split within the party (with the other side becoming the Workers’ Party of Ireland), and has historically been associated with the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA).

Gerry Adams has been party president since 1983.

Sinn Féin is a major party in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It is the largest nationalist party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, and the second-largest overall; it had four ministerial posts in the most recent power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive. It holds seven of Northern Ireland’s 18 seats—the second-largest bloc after the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)—at Westminster, where it follows a policy of abstentionism, refusing to attend parliament or vote on bills.

It is the third-largest party in the Oireachtas, the parliament of the Republic of Ireland. As Ireland’s dominant parties of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are both centre-right and political descendants of Sinn Féin. Sinn Féin in its current iteration is the largest left-wing party in Ireland.</s>Mary Lou McDonald succeeds Gerry Adams as Sinn Féin president, but who is she?</s>Mary Lou McDonald will be confirmed as the new leader of Sinn Féin this afternoon.

She will replace Gerry Adams, who steps down after more than 34 years at the helm of the party.

Today's special Ard Fheis in Dublin will mark the first time party members have chosen a new leader since 1983.

Sinn Féin's leader in the North, Michelle O'Neill, is also set to be confirmed as the party's deputy leader.

Gerry Adams has been a divisive figure for many during his decades in Irish politics.

He insists he was never a member of the IRA, but has said he doesn't 'disassociate' himself from the organisation.

Deputy Adams became a key figure in the peace process, and led his party towards increased political prominence in both the North and the Republic.

This week, Mr Adams was asked what he thought his legacy would be, and responded: "God knows. I'm not really interested. Some people say 'what's your legacy?' - I won't be around."

For most of his first 10 years in charge Sinn Féin was banned from the airwaves, but it is now a very different picture for the party.

In 1997 they had just one Dáil seat, and now they hold 23 - Mary Lou McDonald will take over as the leader of the third most popular party in the Dáil.

Deputy McDonald has made her name with a series of strong performances in Leinster House, such as her critique of Transport Minister Shane Ross during last year's Bus Éireann strike.

However, she will have a number of issues to overcome - such as persistent allegations of bullying within the party; the lack of any substantial progress on restoring the Northern Ireland Executive; and how to broaden support to get into government in the south.</s>MARY LOU MCDONALD has been formally elected as the new leader of Sinn Féin.

With only standing room in the packed RDS in Dublin, McDonald received a standing ovation as she said outlined in her own words, her style of leadership and how Sinn Féin must modernise.

Laying down her markers as the new leader of the party, she said her key focus going forward is Brexit, the party’s approach to Europe, reconciliation and healing in the North and repealing the Eighth Amendment.

Calling Gerry Adams “an inspirational leader” and “a great friend” she said there would be no Good Friday Agreement and no peace process without him.

Outlining her own politics and plans for the party under her leadership, she said “now is the time for fresh thinking and bold ideas”.

She told the crowd she was ready for the challenge of leadership, and that she would “lead from the front” with new deputy leader Michelle O’Neill.

“We must strive to see things from the perspective of others, to walk in their shoes and to reach a deeper understanding of their position,” she said.

McDonald said she is ready to take the party forward, hinting that changes in language and tone of the party might need reform.

“Now is the time for new leadership. I am ready to lead,” she said, adding that as a ”

 “proud Dubliner” and a mother, she wants every parent and their children to be “happy, to fulfil their dreams and potential, to never be held back by inequality, disadvantage or discrimination”.

“I believe in getting things done. If something is broken you roll up your sleeves and you fix it,” said told the crowd.

McDonald said that Sinn Féin is the only party that will build “a United Ireland and a real republic”.

She said that the party must “modernise [its] approaches and [its] structures”.

“This will mean changes in how we operate,” she said. “We must be open, flexible and enthusiastic in creating space for newer members and for the sharing of new ideas.

McDonald said that Sinn Féin would fight the corner of people who struggle “no matter how early they get up”.

She said that she respected that belief in the union with Britain is a “core part of the tradition and identity of a substantial section” of people in Northern Ireland.

“Irish unity cannot be a crude exercise of simply stitching north to south and returning to business as usual,” she said. “We want a new Ireland, in which rights are guaranteed, cultures respected, and the diversity of our identities embraced.”

She said there was “no single historical narrative” and that there is “no value in re-fighting the battles of the past” or “engaging in the blame game”.

Towards the end of the speech, McDonald referenced the upcoming Eighth Amendment referendum, and said that Sinn Féin will “campaign enthusiastically for repeal”.

“We will be on the airwaves vigorously arguing our case for repeal,” she said. “Some people will not share our analysis. I respect their right to hold that view.

She closed the speech by saying that a new chapter on the road to the republic has begun.

“We are the generation of republicans who will see the rising of the moon,” she said, quoting from the old Irish ballad and the prison diary of Bobby Sands. “Sinn Féin in government both North and South. Irish unity in our time.

Read: Mary Lou McDonald to lay out her vision to ‘modernise’ the Sinn Féin party

Read: These are the big tests facing Mary Lou as she fills Gerry’s shoes</s>Mary Lou McDonald will be confirmed as the new leader of Sinn Féin today.

She will replace Gerry Adams, who steps down after more than 34 years at the helm of the party.

The Dublin Central TD has made her name in the Dáil with a series of strong performances, and is seen by many as the face of a new generation of republicans.

She has no IRA baggage and hails from a middle-class part of Dublin, where she went to a private fee-paying school.

The mother-of-two, who now lives in Cabra, Dublin, has been clear favourite for some time to replace Gerry Adams, one of the longest serving party leaders in the world.

She was once described by her party colleague Caral Ni Chuilin as “one of the most formidable women in politics”.

Born in 1969, Mrs McDonald’s background is very different from other leading Sinn Féin politicians.

She was raised in the affluent Rathgar area of Dublin and was educated at Notre Dame, a private fee-paying school in the city. She is a graduate of Trinity College, University of Limerick and DCU.

Her first formal link to politics was as a consultant and researcher with the Institute of European Affairs, a think tank run by Brendan Halligan, the former Labour TD.

In the late 1990s, she joined Fianna Fáil in Dublin West, defecting to Sinn Féin shortly afterwards.

In 2002, Mrs McDonald was Sinn Féin’s candidate in Dublin West, but she failed to win a seat in the Dáil.

But two years later, she made history by becoming the party’s first MEP.

By 2009, she was deputy leader of the party – and in 2011 became a member of the Dáil for Dublin Central.

Her rapid rise through the Sinn Féin ranks will now see her become the first female leader of the republican party.

But it is set to become a baptism of fire with many difficult issues to be tackled, including a referendum on abortion in the Republic, ongoing Brexit negotiations and attempts to restore powersharing at Stormont.

Despite replacing one of the defining figures of the republican movement, Mrs McDonald has no intention of remaining in Mr Adams’ shadow.

In a speech when she became president-elect Mrs McDonald said she intend to walk in her own shoes.

“The truth is, my friends, I won’t fill Gerry’s shoes but the news is that I brought my own. So I will fill my shoes, I will walk in my shoes,” she said.</s>Gerry Adams was at Stormont on Thursday as efforts continued to try to reinstate the Northern Executive and Assembly, as he prepared to pass on the presidency of Sinn Féin after more than 34 years in the post.

While Mr Adams and other senior Sinn Féin politicians negotiated with the DUP on how to end the political deadlock senior Sinn Féin officials were busy preparing Saturday’s handing on of the baton from Mr Adams to Mary Lou McDonald.

Sinn Féin is expecting some 2,000 delegates to gather at the RDS in Ballsbridge in Dublin for the ratification of the Dublin Central TD as the next president of Sinn Féin.

The special ardfheis is scheduled to begin at 1pm and last about two hours. Ms McDonald will be proposed and seconded for the presidency.

Sinn Féin’s Northern leader Michelle O’Neill also will be proposed and seconded for the vice-president position. They have no challengers.

After the formal election Ms McDonald and Ms O’Neill will deliver what Sinn Féin has described as keynote speeches. A Sinn Féin spokesman said on Thursday that it was not yet decided whether Mr Adams, who took over as Sinn Féin president in 1983, will deliver a valedictory presidential speech.

In the meantime Mr Adams was among senior Sinn Féin and DUP politicians seeking to determine if a deal to restore the power-sharing administration could be struck before the presidential handover takes place.

Northern Ireland has been without a devolved Executive since the late Martin McGuinness stood down as deputy first minister in January last year. Four series of talks last year failed to resolve differences over issues such as an Irish language act, same-sex marriage and how to deal with the past.

Senior DUP and Sinn Féin sources said intensive talks were continuing at Stormont but that “significant gaps” remained between the two parties. Two of the big obstacles, it is understood, are over Irish language legislation and achieving a mechanism that would bring a strong degree of sustainability to the power-sharing institutions.

Mr Adams told the Press Association on Thursday that whether a deal would happen was in the balance and that the talks remained “work in progress”.

“It would be wrong to call it either way. There are still gaps. I would like to see it up and running again for the sake of the people,” he said.

Mr Adams insisted Sinn Féin wanted to see devolution return. “Any power-sharing arrangement here has to be truly power-sharing,” he said.

The outgoing Sinn Féin president added: “It would face big challenges because of Brexit and Tory austerity, but it is still better having local, accountable politicians who you can sack and who you can hold accountable for any decisions that they make. But this is the fifth round of talks. There are obviously challenges here for all of us.”</s>Mary Lou McDonald has assumed the leadership of Sinn Féin, restating the party's goal of achieving a United Ireland and insisting "the war is long over".

Mary Lou McDonald has assumed the leadership of Sinn Féin, restating the party's goal of achieving a United Ireland and insisting "the war is long over".

Ms McDonald takes over as Sinn Féin president today unopposed after Gerry Adams's almost 35 years in charge. She opened her speech denying that her taking over the role was a "coronation", arguing that it was a democratic decision of the party.

Speaking in Dublin's RDS, Ms McDonald made no direct reference to the atrocities carried out by the Provisional IRA during its decades-long terror campaign. Instead she emphasised Sinn Féin's role in the peace process, the need for reconciliation, modernising the party and its aim of going into government in the North and South.

Mr Adams role in the peace process has been noted in the days leading up to his stepping down as leader. He has also been heavily criticised for his repeated denials that he was a senior IRA member.
• Read More: I’m satisfied I’ve done my best, says Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams Ms McDonald said there would be no peace process without Mr Adams and praised him saying he is "my political mentor". She said her party respects the Unionist tradition in the North but said "we are United Irelanders. We want to secure and win a referendum on Irish unity".

She said this must be achieved with "graciousness and generosity" and she said she wanted to build on the work of the late Martin McGuinness and "reach out the hand of friendship, to find common ground".

"There is no value in re-fighting the battles of the past.

Ms McDonald added: "There is no value in engaging in the blame game." "We do not have to agree on the past. There is no single historical narrative. We must only agree that the past is never again repeated," she said.

According to Ms McDonald "nobody should expected to forget". "Nobody should be asked to forgive if they cannot do so. "Every victim, every survivor of the conflict must be must be treated with respect, with compassion, with a recognition of their right to seek truth and justice."

She also said everyone has the right to remember their dead with dignity, including Republicans. "We honour our dead with pride, with dignity, marking their sacrifice, lamenting their loss, embracing their families, " she said. Ms McDonald set out the party's position on Brexit, the talks in the North, Europe and the upcoming abortion referendum.

She said Sinn Féin will campaign for a repeal of the Eighth Amendment. Ms McDonald concluded her speech saying: "We are the generation of republicans who will see the rising of the moon.

"And the establishment of a real republic of which Tone and Markievicz, Connolly and Skinnider, Sands and McGuinness would be proud." She added in unscripted remarks: "So my friends of Sinn Féin. Let's get to work.</s>There was a guarded sense of optimism at Stormont on Friday night that more than a year after the collapse of the powersharing institutions, the DUP and Sinn Féin are on the edge of a deal to restore the Northern Executive and Assembly.

DUP leader Arlene Foster said after “a very intensive week of discussions” progress was made but there was more work to do. “I have set out the parameters for a deal. It must be fair and balanced,” she said.

“Our negotiating team will continue working next week. I want to see Ministerial led government restored to Northern Ireland. I hope that can be achieved by devolved government and will work towards that end,” added Ms Foster.

Ahead of some 2,000 Sinn Féin delegates assembling in Dublin on Saturday to formally elect Mary Lou McDonald as Gerry Adams’s successor as party president, well-placed talks sources said good progress was achieved after a week of high-level DUP-Sinn Féin negotiations at Stormont.

“It has to be said that the mood is much more positive,” said one senior source following a day of negotiations in which the outgoing and incoming Sinn Féin presidents, Mr Adams and Ms McDonald, were centrally involved.

At one stage there was some expectation that a deal might be struck on Friday night but DUP and Sinn Féin sources said “gaps” remained between the two parties, forcing the talks into next week.

A Sinn Féin spokesman said “progress” was made in the talks. “There are outstanding issues to be resolved,” he added. “Talks are continuing and should conclude next week.”

Mr Adams said on Friday night that the talks were not yet “sorted out”.

“We have made some progress but there are still considerable obstacles but as I said to our unionist friends, this is the last chance agreement,” he said.

“They need to embrace the need for rights for everybody and agree a space where we can all moderate our differences,” added Mr Adams.

Key issues still to be resolved are the Sinn Féin demand for a free-standing Irish language act and a DUP requirement that if it goes back into the Executive that the institutions will be sustainable and not susceptible to being easily crashed by Sinn Féin.

Sources surmised that while a deal was possible on Friday, some DUP politicians were reluctant to allow Mr Adams make his valedictory as party president, while telling Sinn Féin’s special ardfheis that not only had he helped broker an agreement but he had delivered on Sinn Féin’s Irish language demand.

There was also a DUP concern, according to sources, that if a deal was agreed on Friday either Sinn Féin triumphalism or some laudatory references to the IRA at the ardfheis could “spook” some DUP MPs and Assembly members.

Sources also said that both the DUP and Sinn Féin “needed to get their ducks lined up in a row” and that there were some members from both parties who would be antipathetic to agreeing a deal that could in any way be interpreted as compromising on previously asserted principles.

There is also a specific anxiety that were the DUP leader Arlene Foster to agree a deal some of the party’s MPs, such as Ian Paisley and Sammy Wilson, might attempt to sabotage such an agreement, thus jeopardising both the deal and Ms Foster’s leadership. This is an issue for the DUP to manage, said a source.

Despite a general political nervousness in sight of an agreement, the mood at Stormont on Friday remained positive. There is also the possibility that if a deal is on the cards for early next week, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and the British prime minister Theresa May would travel to Stormont to assist in the final stage of negotiations.

The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney and the Northern Secretary Karen Bradley held talks with the SDLP, the Ulster Unionist Party and Alliance on Friday afternoon.

The DUP and Sinn Féin did not attend these talks, although there was an expectation that all-party discussions would be held with British and Irish government Ministers. This, according to an Ulster Unionist Party source, prompted party leader Robin Swann to complain, “The DUP and Sinn Féin are running the show and the two governments are just bystanders”.

In turn, said the same source, Ms Bradley told the three parties she “felt their frustration” at being kept away from the central negotiations.

“We are not here for a counselling session but to get government back up and running,” replied Mr Swann.

The SDLP leader Colum Eastwood, after the three-party talks with Mr Coveney and Ms Bradley, said he made it “very clear to both governments that they shouldn’t bring us into a room to waste our time with no meaningful update or substance”.

“The truth is, this isn’t an all-party process. It is an exclusive two party process,” he said.
Mary Lou McDonald is confirmed in the position of president of Sinn Féin. She succeeds Gerry Adams, who was Sinn Féin's leader since 1983.