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{{Short description|Irish republican political party split from Sinn Féin in 1986}}
{{sprotected}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}
{{Infobox_Irish_Political_Party |
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=November 2021}}
party_name = Republican Sinn Féin<br>Sinn Féin Poblachtach |
{{Infobox political party
party_articletitle = {{PAGENAME}}|
| country = the Republic of Ireland
party_logo = ] |
| country2 = Northern Ireland
leader = ] |
| name = Republican Sinn Féin
foundation = ]<ref>Claims to be a continuation of ], which was launched in 1905.</ref> |
| native_name = Sinn Féin Poblachtach
ideology = ] ] (linked with the ]), ] ]|
| logo = ]
international = ''none'' |
| leader1_title = President
european = ''none'' |
| leader1_name = {{nowrap|]}}
europarl = ''none'' |
| leader2_title = Acting Vice Presidents
colours = ]|
| leader2_name = Martin Kelly
headquarters = Teach Dáithí Ó Conaill<br>223 Parnell Street<br>] 1 <br><br> 229 Falls Road<br>] BT12 6FB |
| foundation = {{start date|November 1986}}{{efn|The present organisation was founded following the 1986 Sinn Fein conference. RSF claims descent from the original Sinn Fein organised in 1905 and disputes the legitimacy of the party currently bearing that name.}}
website =
| split = ]
| dissolution =
| headquarters = Teach Dáithí Ó Conaill, 223 Parnell Street,<br>] 1, ]
| ideology = {{ubli|]|]|]|]|]|]|]|]}}
| position = ]
| newspaper = ]
| youth_wing =
| womens_wing =
| international =
| colours = ], ]
| website = {{URL|https://republicansinnfein.org/about-us/}}
| wing1_title = Paramilitary Wing
| wing1 = ] (Main paramilitary),<br>] (Women's paramilitary)
| colorcode = {{party color|Republican Sinn Féin}}
| seats1_title = ]
| seats1 = {{Composition bar|1|949|hex={{party color|Republican Sinn Féin}}}}
}} }}
]
'''Republican Sinn Féin''' or '''RSF''' ({{langx|ga|Sinn Féin Poblachtach}}) is an ] political party in ]. RSF claims to be heirs of the ] party founded in 1905; the party took its present form in 1986 following a split in Sinn Féin. RSF members take seats when elected to local government in the ], but do not recognise the validity of the ]. It subsequently does not recognise the legitimacy of the parliaments of Northern Ireland (]) or the Republic of Ireland (]), so the party does not register itself with them.


The party emerged around the supporters of ] and ]. As ], they rejected the reformism of ] and other members of Sinn Féin who supported abandoning the policy of ] from the ] and accepting the legality of the ]. They support the ] policy which allows for devolution of power to provincial governments. RSF holds that the ] ] legally continues to exist, and that the Continuity Irish Republican Army Council is its '']'' government.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130129081032/http://www.rsf.ie/page1.html |date=29 January 2013 }}. Retrieved 22 February 2013.</ref>
'''Republican Sinn Féin''' ('''RSF''') is a ]<ref>Although an active movement, RSF is not registered as a political party in either ] or the ].</ref> operating in ]. It formed in 1986 as a splinter from ] and represents what is often described as 'fundamentalist republicanism'.


The organisation views itself as representing "true" or "traditional" ], while in the mainstream media the organisation is portrayed as a political expression of "]". Republican Sinn Féin rejects the ] and the ]; as part of this they assert that Irish republicans have the ] to "defend the Irish Republic" and considers the ] (IRA) to be the legitimate army of the Irish Republic, and the Continuity IRA Army Council its legal government.
==Formation of party==
The decision to form a new party was taken in response to Sinn Féin's decision at their 1986 ''ard fheis'' to end their policy of abstaining from taking seats won in ]<ref> &mdash; from the CAIN project at the ]</ref>. RSF viewed this as an acceptance of the legitimacy of the partition of Ireland into the ] and ]. Supporters of RSF claimed that the decision to end abstention was invalid under Sinn Féin's constitution and walked out of the ''ard fheis''. According to RSF, those delegates who voted to participate in Dáil Éireann had by their vote left the party, leaving RSF as the only legitimate Sinn Féin<ref> &mdash; from the Republican Sinn Féin party website</ref>. Provisional Sinn Féin point out that the 1983 ''ard fheis'' amended the constitution so that ''"no aspect of the constitution and rules be closed to discussion"''; this was done to enable the ''ard fheis'' to debate a motion to allow Sinn Féin candidates to stand and take seats if elected to the ]. Section 1b was still operative in 1986, its wording was: "No person....who approves of or supports the candidature of persons who sign any form or give any kind of written or verbal undertaking of intention to take their seats in these institutions, shall be admitted to membership or allowed to retain membership." The line "no aspect of the constitution and rules be closed to discussion" would seem, at first glance, to conflict with section 1b. There is, however, a substantial difference between "discussing" the the rule barring the taking of seats in Leinster House (an aspect of the constitution and rules) and formally "approving" or "supporting" the "candidature of persons who sign any form or give any kind of written or verbal undertaking of intention to take their seats in these institutions." For example there are regular conferences on pedophilia, where pedophilia is discussed without any of the delegates supporting pedophilia or approving of it. Its clear that if this line allowing the discussion of any aspect of the constitution was indeed adopted, it did not, in any way, infringe on or vitiate Section 1b (which was still recognised by Adams himself in 1986 to the point that he proposed amending it to continue its effect in regard to Stormont and Westminster only.) The only purpose there could have been to adopting such a line emphatically allowing the discussion of any aspect of the constitution would have been to prevent an overly restrictive interpretation of Section 1b. From a strictly legal perspective, its clear that Adams and his supporters expelled themselves from Sinn Féin. The remaining members, who had not broken Section 1b, re-organised as Republican Sinn Féin.


==History==
Republican Sinn Féin was led by the former President of Provisional Sinn Féin, ] and much of the older, largely Southern based membership of the movement who disagreed with ] and his largely Northern based backers. The ], founded in 1986 but which emerged publicly in ], in opposition to the ceasefire declared by the ], is believed to have links to RSF. Both RSF and the CIRA have been proscribed by the ] as ].
{{About||early history|History of Sinn Féin|}}


The modern origins of the party date from the mid 1980s. The decision to form, reorganise or reconstitute, as its supporters see it, the organisation was taken in response to ]-led ]'s decision at its 1986 '']'' to end its policy of ] and to allow elected Sinn Féin ] (TDs) to take their seats in ]'s ].<ref>{{Cite web |title=CAIN: Issues: Abstentionism: Sinn Fein Ard Fheis 1-2 November 1986 - Details of Source Material |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/abstentionism/source.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331134358/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/abstentionism/source.htm |access-date=25 July 2015|archive-date=31 March 2023 }}</ref> Those who went on to form RSF opposed this move as it signalled a departure from the traditional republican analysis, which viewed the Dáil as an illegal assembly set up by an act of Westminster. They argued that republicans owed their allegiance to the ], maintaining that this state existed ''de jure'' and that its authority rested with the ]. (See: ]) As ] declared:<ref>{{Cite web |author=]|title=''Sinn Féin Ard Fheis'', 2 November 1986|url=https://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/politics/docs/sf/rob021186.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230921162042/https://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/politics/docs/sf/rob021186.htm |archive-date=21 September 2023 }}</ref>
==Claim to legitimacy==
RSF claims to be the true inheritor of a tradition of ] that includes the original ] of the secessionist ] declared in 1919, and the 'Old' ] that fought the 1919-1921 ]. It claims:
*the ] of 1921 was incompatible with the Irish Republic and hence null and void.
*all Irish elections subsequent to the ] election in 1921 were based on the Treaty and hence illegitimate.
*The 64 ]s who voted for the Treaty in 1922 had violated their oath to the Irish Republic and abdicated their legitimacy.
*in entering the Dáil of the ] in 1927, the anti-Treaty TDs who had joined ] had done likewise.
*the 7 "faithful" TDs of the Second Dáil had transferred their authority to the Army Council of the IRA in 1938.
*the last remaining of the seven, ], had in 1969 recognised the IRA 'provisional Army Council' (rather than the ]).
* Maguire subsequently switched to recognising the Continuity IRA in 1987.<ref> This claim was made based on a letter released in 1996; Maguire had died in 1993 aged 101.</ref>


{{Blockquote|
These claims are rejected as fanciful by many republicans. Senator ], a prominent figure in ] (the largest Irish republican party), has described as 'preposterous nonsense' the 'concoction of a sort of pseudo-apostolic succession from Pearse to the Second Dail to the IRA to the Sinn Fein party' to the small irredentist movement currently claiming that it, not the elected government of the Republic, is the true government of Ireland. RSF refused to recognise the validity of the ] even though it was accepted by the electorates on both sides of the Irish border.
With regard to councils, Sinn Féin has always been in the councils and that is as near to the enemy system that we dare to go. Sitting in Leinster House is not a revolutionary activity. Once you go in there, once you sign the roll of the House and accept the institutions of the state, once you accept their rulings, you will not be able to do it according to your rules. You will have to go according to their rules and they can stand up and gang up on you and put you out on the street and keep you out on the street.

And those in Leinster House, who have done everything; the firing-squads, the prison cells, the internment camps, the hunger strikes; the lot and weren't able to break this movement, that they can come and say "At last, we have them toeing the line, it took us 65 years, but they have come in from the cold, they have come in from the wilderness and we have them now." Never! That is what I say to you. Never!}}

Although it was passed by a two-thirds majority, those who went on to re-organise RSF claimed that the decision to end abstention was invalid under the Sinn Féin constitution, Section 1b of which stated: "No person ... who approves of or supports the candidature of persons who sign any form or give any kind of written or verbal undertaking of intention to take their seats in these institutions, shall be admitted to membership or allowed to retain membership." They pointed out that in their opinion the correct procedure was to drop or amend Section 1b of the constitution in one year, then come back the next year and propose entering Leinster House, when Section 1b was no longer in operation. In protest, they staged a walkout from the ardfheis and reconvened the ardfheis at another venue. RSF subsequently claimed that the delegates who had voted to drop abstentionism had in effect expelled themselves from the party. It is on this basis that RSF views itself as the only party entitled to the name of Sinn Féin and the sole legitimate successor to the original Sinn Féin established in 1905.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sinn Féin 100 years of unbroken continuity 1905-2005 |url=http://www.rsf.ie/100years.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726142448/http://rsf.ie/100years.htm |archive-date=26 July 2011 |access-date=2010-11-25 |publisher=Rsf.ie}}</ref> Supporters of abstentionism also claimed that the vote at the ardfheis was gerrymandered. Journalist ] points out that in 1986 the number of votes at the ardfheis, which reflects the size of Sinn Féin, almost doubled from 1985 to 1986, and then reverted to the 1985 level in 1987.<ref name="Moloneyp296">{{Cite book |last=Moloney |first=Ed |title=A Secret History of the IRA |year=2003 |isbn=0-14-101041-X |page=296|publisher=Penguin }}</ref>

Adams-led Provisional Sinn Féin argued that a previous ''ardfheis'' in 1983 amended the constitution so that "no aspect of the constitution and rules be closed to discussion". This was done to enable the ardfheis to debate a motion to allow Sinn Féin candidates to stand in elections to the ] and to take their seats if successful.<ref name="Feeneyp326">{{Cite book |last=Feeney |first=Brian |title=Sinn Féin A hundred turbulent years |year=2002 |isbn=0-86278-695-9 |page=326|publisher=O'Brien Press }}</ref> Some argue that this argument is weakened, by the fact that candidature to the European Parliament had already been debated at the 1978 ardfheis, when a motion to stand candidates in the 1979 European elections was defeated at the Sinn Féin ardfheis.<ref>Moloney (2002), p.200–201</ref> A vote to change abstentionism from a principle to a tactic failed to achieve a two-thirds majority vote in 1985. The results were 181 opposed and 161 in favour.<ref name=Moloneyp296 /><ref name="Whitep298">{{Cite book |last=White |first=Robert |url=https://archive.org/details/ruairiobradaighl0000whit/page/298 |title=Ruairí ó Brádaigh, The Life and politics of an Irish Revolutionary |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=2006 |isbn=0-253-34708-4 |page= |url-access=registration}}</ref>

There is disagreement on the number of people who walked out. Brian Feeney claims that after the vote was passed about 20 members, led by ], walked out.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Feeney |first=Brian |title=Sinn Féin - A Hundred Turbulent Years |year=2002 |isbn=0-86278-770-X |page=333|publisher=O'Brien Press }}</ref> ], in ''The Irish Troubles'', states that Ó Brádaigh and ] "and about one hundred others walked out to form Republican Sinn Féin (RSF) at a previously hired hall in a hotel outside Dublin".<ref name="Bellp732">{{Cite book |last=Bell |first=J. Bowyer |title=The Irish Troubles |page=732}}</ref> Whatever the number, that evening, approximately 130 people, including some of the delegates who voted against the motion, reconvened at Dublin's West County Hotel and established RSF.<ref name="White307-308">White (2006), p. 307-308</ref> By itself, the RSF Officer Board formed that evening had 6 members, also formed was an organising committee of 15 members.<ref name=White307-308 /> Bell also notes that in response to the split, there was a "flurry of military operations in and around Belfast" by the Provisional IRA during the remainder of the year to show "country militants that the city was not a centre of politics".<ref name=Bellp732/>

At the centre of those who helped to re-organise as Republican Sinn Féin were key people who formed the Provisional IRA and Sinn Féin, including ], Des Long, Joe O'Neill, Frank Glynn, and ]. Among those in attendance at the first ] commemoration,<ref>For a description of the importance of Bodenstown for Irish republicans, see J. Bowyer Bell, ''The Secret Army'', 1997, pp. 659–660.</ref> staged by the version of the Continuity Republican Movement which RSF sees itself as forming part of, were four members of the first ]: ] (Longford), ] (Cork/Dublin), ] (Belfast), and Paddy Mulcahy (Limerick). Among those present at the West County Hotel when RSF was formed was ], an early member of the Provisional IRA Army Council, and the former O/C ] of the Provisional IRA.<ref>White (2006), p. 310.</ref> Another early supporter of RSF was Sean Tracey, a member of the first Provisional IRA Army Council, who later "drifted away" from RSF.<ref>White (2006), p. 397–398.</ref>

The influence of those who founded Provisional Sinn Féin should not be understated. Of the 20 people on the Sinn Féin Caretaker Executive formed in January 1970, ten were still involved in PSF in 1986. Nine of the ten joined Republican Sinn Féin.<ref>{{Cite book |last=White |first=Robert |title=Provisional Irish Republicans: An Oral and Interpretive History |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=1993 |page=157}}</ref>

The origins of the party are also described in the documentary "Unfinished Business: The Politics of 'Dissident' Irish Republicans".<ref>{{Cite web |date=30 June 2014 |title=Unfinished Business &#124; IUPUI University Library |url=http://ulib.iupui.edu/digitalscholarship/video/UnfinishedBusiness |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140630092748/http://ulib.iupui.edu/digitalscholarship/video/UnfinishedBusiness |archive-date=30 June 2014}}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=May 2018}}

==Positions==
{{Primary sources|section|date=March 2018}}
{{Irish republicanism|Active parties}}

===Irish sovereignty===
Republican Sinn Féin believes that the ] proclaimed in 1916 during the ] organised ], founded an all-Ireland sovereign state and that the ] and ] meetings of the ] were the last legitimate sitting governments of Ireland. RSF rejects the ] of 1921 which led to the creation of the ] and ] as an act of treason and refer to it as the "Treaty of Surrender." The regime sitting in ] is regarded by RSF as being founded as an illegitimate British-puppet state (and latterly a fiefdom of Brussels) analogous to ] during ] and the assembly at ] as a more overt manifestation of "occupation." It quotes ] who said of an urgent need to "break the connection with England, the never-failing source of all our political evils" in calling for the "complete overthrow of ]".

It also refuses to recognise the validity of the ] as it argues that the referendum on the agreement did not offer the people of Ireland the choice of living in a ], and that the referendum was invalid since separate polls were held in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.<ref name="rsf">{{Cite web |date=2000-01-01 |title=Republican Sinn Féin ardfheis / National Conference 1999 |url=http://www.rsf.ie/motion99.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070206014850/http://www.rsf.ie/motion99.htm |archive-date=6 February 2007 |access-date=2010-11-25 |publisher=Rsf.ie}}</ref> It also opposes the ] as it believes that this further entrenches British presence in Ireland, and that "those nationalists who took their seats in the new Stormont" were "guilty of treachery to the Irish Republic".

Republican Sinn Féin does not consider the ] (descended from the pro-Treaty ] of the ]) to be the armed forces of the Irish Republic, rather it claims that the Irish Republican Army is the only organisation that has the right to the title of the '']''. This includes in succession; the ], the ], the ] (1969–86) and since then the ]. These organisations are all considered by it to simply be the one Irish Republican Army founded by the merger of the ] and the ].

===Foreign affairs===
Republican Sinn Féin maintains that Ireland should remain independent of large power blocks and thus is a ] party. The people who would go on to found RSF, while they were still members of Provisional Sinn Féin in 1972 opposed Ireland being brought into the ], which later became the ]. RSF in any case does not recognise the ], ], ], ] and ] as it applies to Ireland, because these agreements were ratified by what it sees as completely "illegitimate" regimes at Leinster House in ] and (for the north) ] in ].

In a more general sense, it says there is a "danger of the growing European Union becoming a world superpower in its own right" and that it could be a participant in potential "resource wars" of the 21st century, something it says Ireland cannot support as it would end up "swapping British domination for European domination". It further criticised the EU as taking a "highly centralised political and economic power-bloc" whose decision making is made in what they termed "completely undemocratic institutions"; and that EU bureaucrats work against the interest of small farmers and restructure industry so that the EU centre can prosper at Ireland's expense. Amongst all these issues it said that Ireland's neutrality is under threat.

RSF says that because of ] as a "colonial possession" it supports other national liberation struggles around the world and "feel a sense of solidarity with all peoples who are struggling for freedom and justice". The party calls itself "]" as it says it recognises that "we all have a common identity as human beings, as members of the great family of peoples we wish to play our role in this wider world community on the basis of equality and respect for the rights of others". In that vein, it supports ] for ]. It also advocates Ireland's neutrality in avoiding military alliances and power blocs.

===Cultural policy===
Other policies of the RSF include the ] and the importance of the ] "to the Irish ]".<ref>{{Cite web |title=About |url=http://www.rsf.ie/page1.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924092350/http://www.rsf.ie/page1.html |archive-date=24 September 2015 |access-date=25 July 2015}}</ref> It is also ] as both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland were created by acts of the ] against what it called the "wishes of the Irish people".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Introduction |url=http://www.rsf.ie/intro.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924092349/http://www.rsf.ie/intro.htm |archive-date=24 September 2015 |access-date=25 July 2015}}</ref>

===Social policy===
It stands on a platform of the establishment of social justice based on what it describes as the principles of Irish Republican ], based on the 1916 ]. This is outlined in the party's social and economic policy document ].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Archived copy |url=http://www.rsf.ie/saolnua.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090406034917/http://www.rsf.ie/saolnua.htm |archive-date=6 April 2009 |access-date=20 July 2009}}</ref> It also has a policy named '']'' ("New Ireland"), which would see the establishment of a ] Ireland completely independent of the United Kingdom and set up as a ] of the four ].

==Leadership==
At their reorganisation, the Chairman of Republican Sinn Féin was ]. At the party's first Ard-Fheis, they elected their first president, ], who had been president of Sinn Féin from 1970 to 1983. He was joined by Dáithí Ó Conaill, another prominent figure in Sinn Féin and the IRA in the 1970s. On 28 September 2009 Ó Brádaigh announced that he was to step down as RSF leader, citing age and health grounds for his decision.<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304192715/http://www.irishnews.com/appnews/540/5860/2009/9/28/628646_395195792317OBradaigh.html |date=4 March 2016 }}</ref> On 15 November 2009, he was succeeded by ].<ref>, Press Association, 15 November 2009. {{dead link|date=May 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

On 10 November 2018, Dalton's tenure as president ended after nine years, and Seosamh Ó Maoileoin was announced as the new president of Republican Sinn Féin<ref>{{Cite web |date=13 November 2018 |title=Sinn Féin welcomes New President |url=https://republicansinnfein.org/2018/11/13/sinn-fein-welcomes-new-president/}}</ref> along with acting vice-presidents Pádraig Garvey and Daire Mac Cionnaith. Líta Ní Chathmhaoil and Dónall Ó Ceallaigh are the general secretaries, and Diarmuid MacDubhghlais and Anthony Donohue are the treasurers. Gearóid Ó Bruachain is the publicity officer.

===Leadership history===
{|class="wikitable"
|-
!Name
!Dates
!Notes
|-
|]
|1986–2009
|Longest-served president in the organisation's history.
|-
|]
|2009–2018
|
|-
|Seosamh Ó Maoileoin
|2018–present
|
|}

==Splits==
In September 2005, a number of cumainn (or branches) and individual members of RSF left the party in protest over the party's treatment of Continuity IRA prisoners held in ]. As a consequence of this dispute, a number of people resigned from RSF and formed the ] to raise funds and provide moral support for the former Continuity IRA-aligned prisoners they supported. However a majority of the prisoners chose to return and the organisation as of 2011 is defunct.

In August 2010 it was reported that members of the Limerick cumann were expelled, and had first adopted the name Limerick Independent Republican Organisation, before changing it to Real Sinn Féin, then simply Republican Sinn Féin, and finally Continuity Sinn Féin.<ref>''Saoirse'', August 2010</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=CSF |url=http://www.continuitysinnfein.org/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222074956/http://www.continuitysinnfein.org/ |archive-date=22 December 2015 |access-date=12 December 2015}}</ref> In the following years two opposing groups in Limerick, one loyal to local man Joe Lynch, the other loyal to the leadership in Dublin under Des Dalton, claimed to be the "real" Republican Sinn Féin.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hurley, David |date=8 January 2013 |title=Dissidents in Limerick at War |work=News |agency=Limerick Leader |url=http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/leader-local/dissidents-in-limerick-at-war-over-army-threats-1-4657762 |access-date=2013-04-13}}</ref>

==Relationship to other republican organisations==

RSF sees itself as forming part of a wider ] with a number of organisations which share a similar or identical ideological and political perspective. These include (but are not limited to) the ], ], ], ] and the ] and the Republican Prisoners Action Group.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}} Across these organisations there is believed to be some level of dual membership with RSF. RSF strenuously rejects the allegation that it is the "political wing" of the Continuity IRA, as it denies any assertion that the latter is its "military wing".

===Position of foreign governments===
Some foreign governments in the ] have taken a public position against Republican Sinn Féin; the ] lists the party as a "]" along with the Continuity IRA. The State Department states that the CIRA "is a terrorist splinter group formed in 1994 as the clandestine armed wing of Republican Sinn Féin, which split from Sinn Féin in 1986. 'Continuity' refers to the group's belief that it is carrying on the original Irish Republican Army's (IRA) policy of being the army of the ]. CIRA's alleged aliases, Continuity Army Council and Republican Sinn Féin, were also designated as FTOs."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Country Reports on Terrorism: Chapter 6 Terrorist Groups |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/45323.pdf |access-date=2013-02-22 |publisher=State.gov |page=97}}</ref> The British government currently lists the Continuity Army Council and the Irish Republican Army as a "terrorist group" under the ''],'' but does not mention Republican Sinn Féin.


==Electoral participation== ==Electoral participation==
]]]
RSF remains a fringe party and continues its policy of abstentionism, thus meaning they have not stood in elections to either the Commons, the Dáil or the Northern Irish assembly. They also opposed the establishment of the ] as they felt this further entrenched a British presence in Ireland claiming that "those nationalists who took their seats in the new Stormont" were "guilty of treachery to the Irish Republic."
Though the RSF's policy of abstentionism means that it would not take seats in ], the ] or the ], if elected, it has contested local elections in the Republic and Assembly elections in Northern Ireland in 2007.
. They have therefore not participated in elections to the Assembly either.

===First elections===
It initially planned to field 23 candidates, including three sitting councillors elected for Sinn Féin in 1985, in the 1989 local government elections in Northern Ireland. However, shortly before the elections, the ] introduced the 'Elected Authorities (Northern Ireland) Act' which required that all prospective candidates sign the following declaration renouncing:

::''"(a) any organisation that is for the time being a proscribed organisation specified in Schedule 2 to the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1978: or''
::''(b) acts of terrorism (that is to say, violence for political ends) connected with the affairs of Northern Ireland"''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elected Authorities (Northern Ireland) Act 1989 - Chapter 3 |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1989/3/schedule/2 |access-date=2012-09-13 |publisher=legislation.gov.uk}}</ref>

RSF refused to do so on the grounds that such an oath "calls for the public disowning of the Irish Republican Army, Cumann na mBan, Fianna Éireann and a repudiation of the right of the Irish people to use force of arms to end British occupation".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elections and Abstentionism |url=http://www.rsf.ie/election.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070722030600/http://www.rsf.ie/election.htm |archive-date=22 July 2007 |access-date=2010-11-25 |publisher=Rsf.ie}}</ref> Consequently, its candidates did not stand. It is not registered with the ] as a political party in Northern Ireland meaning that in elections in Northern Ireland, the party name cannot appear on the ballot paper,<ref>, Electoral Commission. Retrieved 22 February 2013.</ref> and the party cannot make party political broadcasts.<ref>, Part II, Section 37. Retrieved 22 February 2013.</ref>

===1991 local elections===
The results for 1991 are only partially available. A number of other people stood for RSF, including Tomás Ó Curraoin, David Joyce and Frank Glynn in ], and Jimmy Kavanagh in ]. Two sitting councillors, Joe O'Neill (Bundoran UDC) and Seán Lynch (]) were re-elected. Sitting county councillor Frank Glynn lost his seat on ] which he had held for 24 years.

Among the unsuccessful were Peter Cunningham in ], Declan Curneen in ]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Leitrim County Council: (Manorhamilton) 1991 Local Election Results, Counts, Stats and Analysis |url=https://irelandelection.com/election.php?elecid=171&electype=5&constitid=183 |access-date=2023-08-28 |website=irelandelection.com}}</ref> and Joe O'Neill in ].{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}}

===1999 local elections===
In the 1999 local elections in the Republic of Ireland, RSF candidates received 1,390 votes in county/city council elections, and 149 votes urban district council level.

Seán Lynch, of ], was reelected.
The following were unsuccessful: Joe O'Neill ] who also lost his seat on the ] Urban District Council,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-10-03 |title=Death of veteran Republican Joe O'Neill from Bundoran confirmed |url=https://www.donegallive.ie/news/donegal-news/41310/Death-of-veteran-Republican-Joe-O.html |access-date=2024-04-14 |website=www.donegallive.ie |language=en |quote=In local politics Joe O’Neill was a member of the then Bundoran Urban District Council, losing his seat in the 1999 local elections.}}</ref> John MacElhinney ] Urban District Council,<ref>{{Cite web |title=ElectionsIreland.org: 1999 Town Council - Letterkenny First Preference Votes |url=https://electionsireland.org/result.cfm?election=1999T&cons=612 |access-date=2024-04-14 |website=electionsireland.org}}</ref> Des Long ], Tomás Ó Curraoin ] and Geraldine McNamara ] Urban District Council.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}}

===2004 local elections===
RSF ran seven candidates in the local elections in the ]. The party's only elected representative lost his seat in the elections. Netting a total of 2,403 first preference votes, the RSF share of the total valid poll (1,819,761) was 0.13 per cent. Unsuccessful candidates were Seán Lynch who lost his seat on ], Tomás Ó Curraoin ], Seán O'Neill ], Mick Ryan ], ] ], Terence Varian ] and Donal Varian ].{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}}

===2007 Northern Ireland Assembly election===
It ran six candidates in the ]. As the party did not register with the ], the candidates ran as Independents. They were Michael McGonigle ], Geraldine Taylor ], Michael McManus ], Joe O'Neill ], Brendan McLaughlin ] and Barry Toman ].<ref>, February 2007. Retrieved 22 February 2013.</ref>

The six candidates netted a total of 2,522 first preference votes, and their share of the total valid poll (690,313) was 0.37 per cent.<ref>Melaugh, Martin. . CAIN Web Service. Retrieved 22 February 2013.</ref>


===2009 local elections results===
The party occasionally stands in local elections in Republic of Ireland howver they do not contest elections in Northern Ireland. They did initially plan to contest the 1989 local government elections in Northern Ireland and had planned to run 23 candidates in that year, with three of those being sitting councillors elected for Sinn Fein in 1985. However shortly before those elections, the British Government introduced a requirement that all prospective candidates must sign an anti-violence declaration. RSF refused to do so on the grounds that such an oath "calls for the public disowning of the Irish Republican Army, Cumann na mBan, Fianna Éireann and a repudiation of the right of the Irish people to use force of arms to end British occupation." Consequently their candidates became ineligible.
Republican Sinn Féin fielded nine candidates in the ]. As the party is not registered, the party's candidates were labelled non-party or independents.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Whiting |first=Sophie |title=Is it still about 'the split'? The ideological basis of 'dissident' Irish republicanism since 1986 |date=2013 |access-date=2024-04-14 |degree=PhD of Philosophy |publisher=The University of Liverpool |url=https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/9395/3/WhitingSop_Jan2013_9395.pdf |page=142 |chapter=Chapter 4 - Continuity or Dissidence? Assessing the ‘dissident’ republican standpoint: origins and mandates}}</ref>


One of the candidates was successful—Tomás Ó Curraoin in the ] electoral area for ], receiving 1,387 votes or 8.4% of the valid poll.<ref> RTÉ Website {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090609110558/http://www.rte.ie/news/elections/local/l1102.html |date=9 June 2009 }}</ref> The unsuccessful candidates were Seán Lynch ], Mick Ryan and Sean O'Neill ], ] ], Paddy Kenneally ], Peter Fitzsimons ], Séamus Ó Suilleabháin ] and Pat Barry ] Town Council.
They stand on a platform of the establishment of social justice based on what they describe as the principles of Irish Republican ], based on the ] ]. They also have a policy named ''Éire Nua'' ("New Ireland"), which would see the establishment of a ] Ireland completely independent of the ] and set up as a ] of the four ].


===2014 to 2024 local elections results===
] is RSF's President.


Republican Sinn Féin Councillor Tomás Ó Curraoin retained his seat in the ] electoral area for ] receiving 1,072 votes (6.36% of the total vote).<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2014-06-08 |title=Who is your new local councillor? Here's a list of everyone elected |url=https://www.thejournal.ie/who-has-been-elected-so-far-1476621-Jun2014/ |access-date=2024-04-14 |website=TheJournal.ie |language=en |quote=Conamara (9) – Thomas Welby (Ind), Niamh Byrne (FG), Seosamh Ó’Cualáin (IND), Seán Ó Tuairisg (FF), Eileen Mannion (FG), Tomás Ó Curraoin (Ind), Tom Healy (SF), Noel Thomas (FF), Seamus Walsh (FF)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=McGlinchey |first=Marisa |title=Unfinished business: The politics of 'dissident' Irish republicanism |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=2019 |isbn=9781526116222 |quote=In 2014 he went on to win 1,072 first preference votes (6.36 per cent) of the total vote.}}</ref> Pádraig Garvey unsuccessfully ran for election to ] receiving 489 votes.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Kerry County Council |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/elections/local-elections/kerry |access-date=2024-04-14 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en |quote=South and West Kerry - 9 seats ... Ind - Garvey, Padraig - 489 - Eliminated}}</ref>
==Continuity IRA Prisoners==
In September 2005, a number of cumann (or branches) and individual members of RSF left the party in protest over the party's treatment of Continuity IRA prisoners held in ]. During 2005, some Continuity IRA prisoners in the prison left the Continuity IRA, some moved to the INLA, but the majority are now independent and on E4 landing. Those that stayed with the Continuity IRA have moved to E3, the Real IRA landing.<ref>It is claimed by the IMC that there are two breakaway groups from CIRA, Saoirse na h-Eireann and Oglaigh na h-Eireann (not to be confused with RIRA). </ref>


Tomás Ó Curraoin once again retained his seat in the ], receiving 971 votes (10.8% of the total vote) and being re-elected on the fourth count.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Galway County Council: Fianna Fáil takes 15 seats |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/galway-county-council-fianna-f%C3%A1il-takes-15-seats-1.3890433 |access-date=2024-04-14 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en |quote=(First preference votes: candidates elected in bold) ... Conamara South: 5 seats ... '''Tomás Ó Curraoin (Ind) - 971 (elected count 4)'''}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Counts 1-10 |url=https://www.galway.ie/en/media/ResultsSheet_ConnemaraSouth.pdf |access-date=2024-04-14 |website=galway.ie}}</ref> Ó Curraoin was also re-elected at the ], with 974 votes (9.9%).<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.rte.ie/news/elections-2024/results/#/local/galway-county/conamara-south | website = rte.ie | title = Live results from the 2024 Local Elections and European Elections - Conamara South - Galway County Council | date = 12 June 2024 | accessdate = 12 June 2024 }}</ref>
Those that left RSF formed the ] to raise funds and provide moral support for the prisoners on E4.


==Footnotes== ==Notes==
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==External link== ==References==
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==External links==
*{{Official website|https://republicansinnfein.org/about-us/}}
* (archived 2007)
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{{Political parties in Northern Ireland}}
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Latest revision as of 23:55, 10 November 2024

Irish republican political party split from Sinn Féin in 1986

‹ The template Infobox political party is being considered for merging. ›
Republican Sinn Féin Sinn Féin Poblachtach
RSF.
PresidentSeosamh Ó Maoileoin
Acting Vice PresidentsMartin Kelly
FoundedNovember 1986 (November 1986)
Split fromSinn Féin
HeadquartersTeach Dáithí Ó Conaill, 223 Parnell Street,
Dublin 1, Ireland
NewspaperSaoirse Irish Freedom
Paramilitary WingContinuity IRA (Main paramilitary),
Cumann na mBan (Women's paramilitary)
Ideology
Political positionLeft-wing
ColoursGreen, Gold
Local government in the Republic of Ireland1 / 949
Website
republicansinnfein.org/about-us/
RSF offices in Dublin

Republican Sinn Féin or RSF (Irish: Sinn Féin Poblachtach) is an Irish republican political party in Ireland. RSF claims to be heirs of the Sinn Féin party founded in 1905; the party took its present form in 1986 following a split in Sinn Féin. RSF members take seats when elected to local government in the Republic of Ireland, but do not recognise the validity of the Partition of Ireland. It subsequently does not recognise the legitimacy of the parliaments of Northern Ireland (Stormont) or the Republic of Ireland (Leinster House), so the party does not register itself with them.

The party emerged around the supporters of Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and Dáithí Ó Conaill. As Irish republican legitimists, they rejected the reformism of Gerry Adams and other members of Sinn Féin who supported abandoning the policy of abstentionism from the Oireachtas and accepting the legality of the Republic of Ireland. They support the Éire Nua policy which allows for devolution of power to provincial governments. RSF holds that the Irish Republic proclaimed in 1916 legally continues to exist, and that the Continuity Irish Republican Army Council is its de jure government.

The organisation views itself as representing "true" or "traditional" Irish republicanism, while in the mainstream media the organisation is portrayed as a political expression of "dissident republicanism". Republican Sinn Féin rejects the Good Friday Agreement and the Anglo-Irish Treaty; as part of this they assert that Irish republicans have the right to use militant means to "defend the Irish Republic" and considers the Continuity Irish Republican Army (IRA) to be the legitimate army of the Irish Republic, and the Continuity IRA Army Council its legal government.

History

For early history, see History of Sinn Féin.

The modern origins of the party date from the mid 1980s. The decision to form, reorganise or reconstitute, as its supporters see it, the organisation was taken in response to Gerry Adams-led Sinn Féin's decision at its 1986 ard fheis to end its policy of abstentionism and to allow elected Sinn Féin Teachtaí Dála (TDs) to take their seats in Leinster House's Dáil Éireann. Those who went on to form RSF opposed this move as it signalled a departure from the traditional republican analysis, which viewed the Dáil as an illegal assembly set up by an act of Westminster. They argued that republicans owed their allegiance to the Irish Republic, maintaining that this state existed de jure and that its authority rested with the IRA Army Council. (See: Irish republican legitimatism) As Ruairí Ó Brádaigh declared:

With regard to councils, Sinn Féin has always been in the councils and that is as near to the enemy system that we dare to go. Sitting in Leinster House is not a revolutionary activity. Once you go in there, once you sign the roll of the House and accept the institutions of the state, once you accept their rulings, you will not be able to do it according to your rules. You will have to go according to their rules and they can stand up and gang up on you and put you out on the street and keep you out on the street.

And those in Leinster House, who have done everything; the firing-squads, the prison cells, the internment camps, the hunger strikes; the lot and weren't able to break this movement, that they can come and say "At last, we have them toeing the line, it took us 65 years, but they have come in from the cold, they have come in from the wilderness and we have them now." Never! That is what I say to you. Never!

Although it was passed by a two-thirds majority, those who went on to re-organise RSF claimed that the decision to end abstention was invalid under the Sinn Féin constitution, Section 1b of which stated: "No person ... who approves of or supports the candidature of persons who sign any form or give any kind of written or verbal undertaking of intention to take their seats in these institutions, shall be admitted to membership or allowed to retain membership." They pointed out that in their opinion the correct procedure was to drop or amend Section 1b of the constitution in one year, then come back the next year and propose entering Leinster House, when Section 1b was no longer in operation. In protest, they staged a walkout from the ardfheis and reconvened the ardfheis at another venue. RSF subsequently claimed that the delegates who had voted to drop abstentionism had in effect expelled themselves from the party. It is on this basis that RSF views itself as the only party entitled to the name of Sinn Féin and the sole legitimate successor to the original Sinn Féin established in 1905. Supporters of abstentionism also claimed that the vote at the ardfheis was gerrymandered. Journalist Ed Moloney points out that in 1986 the number of votes at the ardfheis, which reflects the size of Sinn Féin, almost doubled from 1985 to 1986, and then reverted to the 1985 level in 1987.

Adams-led Provisional Sinn Féin argued that a previous ardfheis in 1983 amended the constitution so that "no aspect of the constitution and rules be closed to discussion". This was done to enable the ardfheis to debate a motion to allow Sinn Féin candidates to stand in elections to the European Parliament and to take their seats if successful. Some argue that this argument is weakened, by the fact that candidature to the European Parliament had already been debated at the 1978 ardfheis, when a motion to stand candidates in the 1979 European elections was defeated at the Sinn Féin ardfheis. A vote to change abstentionism from a principle to a tactic failed to achieve a two-thirds majority vote in 1985. The results were 181 opposed and 161 in favour.

There is disagreement on the number of people who walked out. Brian Feeney claims that after the vote was passed about 20 members, led by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, walked out. J. Bowyer Bell, in The Irish Troubles, states that Ó Brádaigh and Dáithí Ó Conaill "and about one hundred others walked out to form Republican Sinn Féin (RSF) at a previously hired hall in a hotel outside Dublin". Whatever the number, that evening, approximately 130 people, including some of the delegates who voted against the motion, reconvened at Dublin's West County Hotel and established RSF. By itself, the RSF Officer Board formed that evening had 6 members, also formed was an organising committee of 15 members. Bell also notes that in response to the split, there was a "flurry of military operations in and around Belfast" by the Provisional IRA during the remainder of the year to show "country militants that the city was not a centre of politics".

At the centre of those who helped to re-organise as Republican Sinn Féin were key people who formed the Provisional IRA and Sinn Féin, including Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, Des Long, Joe O'Neill, Frank Glynn, and Dáithí Ó Conaill. Among those in attendance at the first Bodenstown commemoration, staged by the version of the Continuity Republican Movement which RSF sees itself as forming part of, were four members of the first Provisional IRA Army Council: Ruairí Ó Brádaigh (Longford), Dáithí Ó Conaill (Cork/Dublin), Leo Martin (Belfast), and Paddy Mulcahy (Limerick). Among those present at the West County Hotel when RSF was formed was Billy McKee, an early member of the Provisional IRA Army Council, and the former O/C Belfast Brigade of the Provisional IRA. Another early supporter of RSF was Sean Tracey, a member of the first Provisional IRA Army Council, who later "drifted away" from RSF.

The influence of those who founded Provisional Sinn Féin should not be understated. Of the 20 people on the Sinn Féin Caretaker Executive formed in January 1970, ten were still involved in PSF in 1986. Nine of the ten joined Republican Sinn Féin.

The origins of the party are also described in the documentary "Unfinished Business: The Politics of 'Dissident' Irish Republicans".

Positions

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Irish sovereignty

Republican Sinn Féin believes that the Irish Republic proclaimed in 1916 during the Irish Republican Brotherhood organised Easter Rising, founded an all-Ireland sovereign state and that the first and second meetings of the Dáil Éireann were the last legitimate sitting governments of Ireland. RSF rejects the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 which led to the creation of the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland as an act of treason and refer to it as the "Treaty of Surrender." The regime sitting in Leinster House is regarded by RSF as being founded as an illegitimate British-puppet state (and latterly a fiefdom of Brussels) analogous to Vichy France during World War II and the assembly at Stormont House as a more overt manifestation of "occupation." It quotes Wolfe Tone who said of an urgent need to "break the connection with England, the never-failing source of all our political evils" in calling for the "complete overthrow of British rule in Ireland".

It also refuses to recognise the validity of the Good Friday Agreement as it argues that the referendum on the agreement did not offer the people of Ireland the choice of living in a united Ireland, and that the referendum was invalid since separate polls were held in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It also opposes the Northern Ireland Assembly as it believes that this further entrenches British presence in Ireland, and that "those nationalists who took their seats in the new Stormont" were "guilty of treachery to the Irish Republic".

Republican Sinn Féin does not consider the Defence Forces (descended from the pro-Treaty National Army of the Irish Civil War) to be the armed forces of the Irish Republic, rather it claims that the Irish Republican Army is the only organisation that has the right to the title of the Óglaigh na hÉireann. This includes in succession; the Irish Republican Army (1917–22), the Irish Republican Army (1922–69), the Provisional Irish Republican Army (1969–86) and since then the Continuity Irish Republican Army. These organisations are all considered by it to simply be the one Irish Republican Army founded by the merger of the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army.

Foreign affairs

Republican Sinn Féin maintains that Ireland should remain independent of large power blocks and thus is a Eurosceptic party. The people who would go on to found RSF, while they were still members of Provisional Sinn Féin in 1972 opposed Ireland being brought into the European Economic Community, which later became the European Union. RSF in any case does not recognise the Single European Act, Maastricht Treaty, Amsterdam Treaty, Treaty of Nice and Treaty of Lisbon as it applies to Ireland, because these agreements were ratified by what it sees as completely "illegitimate" regimes at Leinster House in Dublin and (for the north) Westminster Palace in London.

In a more general sense, it says there is a "danger of the growing European Union becoming a world superpower in its own right" and that it could be a participant in potential "resource wars" of the 21st century, something it says Ireland cannot support as it would end up "swapping British domination for European domination". It further criticised the EU as taking a "highly centralised political and economic power-bloc" whose decision making is made in what they termed "completely undemocratic institutions"; and that EU bureaucrats work against the interest of small farmers and restructure industry so that the EU centre can prosper at Ireland's expense. Amongst all these issues it said that Ireland's neutrality is under threat.

RSF says that because of Ireland's history as a "colonial possession" it supports other national liberation struggles around the world and "feel a sense of solidarity with all peoples who are struggling for freedom and justice". The party calls itself "internationalist" as it says it recognises that "we all have a common identity as human beings, as members of the great family of peoples we wish to play our role in this wider world community on the basis of equality and respect for the rights of others". In that vein, it supports debt relief for developing countries. It also advocates Ireland's neutrality in avoiding military alliances and power blocs.

Cultural policy

Other policies of the RSF include the separation of church and state and the importance of the Irish language "to the Irish identity". It is also abstentionist as both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland were created by acts of the British Parliament against what it called the "wishes of the Irish people".

Social policy

It stands on a platform of the establishment of social justice based on what it describes as the principles of Irish Republican Socialism, based on the 1916 proclamation of an Irish Republic. This is outlined in the party's social and economic policy document Saol Nua. It also has a policy named Éire Nua ("New Ireland"), which would see the establishment of a 32 county Ireland completely independent of the United Kingdom and set up as a federation of the four Irish provinces.

Leadership

At their reorganisation, the Chairman of Republican Sinn Féin was Dáithí Ó Conaill. At the party's first Ard-Fheis, they elected their first president, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, who had been president of Sinn Féin from 1970 to 1983. He was joined by Dáithí Ó Conaill, another prominent figure in Sinn Féin and the IRA in the 1970s. On 28 September 2009 Ó Brádaigh announced that he was to step down as RSF leader, citing age and health grounds for his decision. On 15 November 2009, he was succeeded by Des Dalton.

On 10 November 2018, Dalton's tenure as president ended after nine years, and Seosamh Ó Maoileoin was announced as the new president of Republican Sinn Féin along with acting vice-presidents Pádraig Garvey and Daire Mac Cionnaith. Líta Ní Chathmhaoil and Dónall Ó Ceallaigh are the general secretaries, and Diarmuid MacDubhghlais and Anthony Donohue are the treasurers. Gearóid Ó Bruachain is the publicity officer.

Leadership history

Name Dates Notes
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh 1986–2009 Longest-served president in the organisation's history.
Des Dalton 2009–2018
Seosamh Ó Maoileoin 2018–present

Splits

In September 2005, a number of cumainn (or branches) and individual members of RSF left the party in protest over the party's treatment of Continuity IRA prisoners held in Portlaoise Prison. As a consequence of this dispute, a number of people resigned from RSF and formed the Concerned Group for Republican Prisoners to raise funds and provide moral support for the former Continuity IRA-aligned prisoners they supported. However a majority of the prisoners chose to return and the organisation as of 2011 is defunct.

In August 2010 it was reported that members of the Limerick cumann were expelled, and had first adopted the name Limerick Independent Republican Organisation, before changing it to Real Sinn Féin, then simply Republican Sinn Féin, and finally Continuity Sinn Féin. In the following years two opposing groups in Limerick, one loyal to local man Joe Lynch, the other loyal to the leadership in Dublin under Des Dalton, claimed to be the "real" Republican Sinn Féin.

Relationship to other republican organisations

RSF sees itself as forming part of a wider Republican Movement with a number of organisations which share a similar or identical ideological and political perspective. These include (but are not limited to) the Continuity IRA, Cumann na mBan, Fianna Éireann, Cabhair and the National Commemoration Committee and the Republican Prisoners Action Group. Across these organisations there is believed to be some level of dual membership with RSF. RSF strenuously rejects the allegation that it is the "political wing" of the Continuity IRA, as it denies any assertion that the latter is its "military wing".

Position of foreign governments

Some foreign governments in the Anglosphere have taken a public position against Republican Sinn Féin; the United States State Department lists the party as a "terrorist organisation" along with the Continuity IRA. The State Department states that the CIRA "is a terrorist splinter group formed in 1994 as the clandestine armed wing of Republican Sinn Féin, which split from Sinn Féin in 1986. 'Continuity' refers to the group's belief that it is carrying on the original Irish Republican Army's (IRA) policy of being the army of the Irish Republic. CIRA's alleged aliases, Continuity Army Council and Republican Sinn Féin, were also designated as FTOs." The British government currently lists the Continuity Army Council and the Irish Republican Army as a "terrorist group" under the Terrorism Act 2000, but does not mention Republican Sinn Féin.

Electoral participation

Irish War of Independence veteran and RSF Patron Dan Keating

Though the RSF's policy of abstentionism means that it would not take seats in Dáil Éireann, the Northern Ireland Assembly or the British House of Commons, if elected, it has contested local elections in the Republic and Assembly elections in Northern Ireland in 2007.

First elections

It initially planned to field 23 candidates, including three sitting councillors elected for Sinn Féin in 1985, in the 1989 local government elections in Northern Ireland. However, shortly before the elections, the British Parliament introduced the 'Elected Authorities (Northern Ireland) Act' which required that all prospective candidates sign the following declaration renouncing:

"(a) any organisation that is for the time being a proscribed organisation specified in Schedule 2 to the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1978: or
(b) acts of terrorism (that is to say, violence for political ends) connected with the affairs of Northern Ireland".

RSF refused to do so on the grounds that such an oath "calls for the public disowning of the Irish Republican Army, Cumann na mBan, Fianna Éireann and a repudiation of the right of the Irish people to use force of arms to end British occupation". Consequently, its candidates did not stand. It is not registered with the Electoral Commission as a political party in Northern Ireland meaning that in elections in Northern Ireland, the party name cannot appear on the ballot paper, and the party cannot make party political broadcasts.

1991 local elections

The results for 1991 are only partially available. A number of other people stood for RSF, including Tomás Ó Curraoin, David Joyce and Frank Glynn in Galway, and Jimmy Kavanagh in Wexford. Two sitting councillors, Joe O'Neill (Bundoran UDC) and Seán Lynch (Longford County Council) were re-elected. Sitting county councillor Frank Glynn lost his seat on Galway County Council which he had held for 24 years.

Among the unsuccessful were Peter Cunningham in South Dublin County Council, Declan Curneen in Leitrim County Council and Joe O'Neill in Donegal County Council.

1999 local elections

In the 1999 local elections in the Republic of Ireland, RSF candidates received 1,390 votes in county/city council elections, and 149 votes urban district council level.

Seán Lynch, of Longford County Council, was reelected. The following were unsuccessful: Joe O'Neill Donegal County Council who also lost his seat on the Bundoran Urban District Council, John MacElhinney Letterkenny Urban District Council, Des Long Limerick City Council, Tomás Ó Curraoin Galway County Council and Geraldine McNamara Tipperary Urban District Council.

2004 local elections

RSF ran seven candidates in the local elections in the Republic of Ireland. The party's only elected representative lost his seat in the elections. Netting a total of 2,403 first preference votes, the RSF share of the total valid poll (1,819,761) was 0.13 per cent. Unsuccessful candidates were Seán Lynch who lost his seat on Longford County Council, Tomás Ó Curraoin Galway County Council, Seán O'Neill Limerick City Council, Mick Ryan Limerick City Council, Des Dalton Kildare County Council, Terence Varian Midleton Town Council and Donal Varian Cobh Town Council.

2007 Northern Ireland Assembly election

It ran six candidates in the 2007 Northern Ireland Assembly election. As the party did not register with the Electoral Commission, the candidates ran as Independents. They were Michael McGonigle East Londonderry, Geraldine Taylor West Belfast, Michael McManus Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Joe O'Neill West Tyrone, Brendan McLaughlin Mid Ulster and Barry Toman Upper Bann.

The six candidates netted a total of 2,522 first preference votes, and their share of the total valid poll (690,313) was 0.37 per cent.

2009 local elections results

Republican Sinn Féin fielded nine candidates in the 2009 Irish local elections. As the party is not registered, the party's candidates were labelled non-party or independents.

One of the candidates was successful—Tomás Ó Curraoin in the Connemara electoral area for Galway County Council, receiving 1,387 votes or 8.4% of the valid poll. The unsuccessful candidates were Seán Lynch Longford County Council, Mick Ryan and Sean O'Neill Limerick City Council, Des Dalton Athy Town Council, Paddy Kenneally Clare County Council, Peter Fitzsimons Kells Town Council, Séamus Ó Suilleabháin Limerick County Council and Pat Barry Bundoran Town Council.

2014 to 2024 local elections results

Republican Sinn Féin Councillor Tomás Ó Curraoin retained his seat in the Connemara electoral area for Galway County Council receiving 1,072 votes (6.36% of the total vote). Pádraig Garvey unsuccessfully ran for election to Kerry County Council receiving 489 votes.

Tomás Ó Curraoin once again retained his seat in the 2019 Galway County Council election, receiving 971 votes (10.8% of the total vote) and being re-elected on the fourth count. Ó Curraoin was also re-elected at the 2024 Galway County Council election, with 974 votes (9.9%).

Notes

  1. The present organisation was founded following the 1986 Sinn Fein conference. RSF claims descent from the original Sinn Fein organised in 1905 and disputes the legitimacy of the party currently bearing that name.

References

  1. Republican Sinn Féin Archived 29 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  2. "CAIN: Issues: Abstentionism: Sinn Fein Ard Fheis 1-2 November 1986 - Details of Source Material". Archived from the original on 31 March 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  3. Ruairí Ó Brádaigh. "Sinn Féin Ard Fheis, 2 November 1986". Archived from the original on 21 September 2023.
  4. "Sinn Féin 100 years of unbroken continuity 1905-2005". Rsf.ie. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  5. ^ Moloney, Ed (2003). A Secret History of the IRA. Penguin. p. 296. ISBN 0-14-101041-X.
  6. Feeney, Brian (2002). Sinn Féin A hundred turbulent years. O'Brien Press. p. 326. ISBN 0-86278-695-9.
  7. Moloney (2002), p.200–201
  8. White, Robert (2006). Ruairí ó Brádaigh, The Life and politics of an Irish Revolutionary. Indiana University Press. p. 298. ISBN 0-253-34708-4.
  9. Feeney, Brian (2002). Sinn Féin - A Hundred Turbulent Years. O'Brien Press. p. 333. ISBN 0-86278-770-X.
  10. ^ Bell, J. Bowyer. The Irish Troubles. p. 732.
  11. ^ White (2006), p. 307-308
  12. For a description of the importance of Bodenstown for Irish republicans, see J. Bowyer Bell, The Secret Army, 1997, pp. 659–660.
  13. White (2006), p. 310.
  14. White (2006), p. 397–398.
  15. White, Robert (1993). Provisional Irish Republicans: An Oral and Interpretive History. Greenwood Press. p. 157.
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  20. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 April 2009. Retrieved 20 July 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  21. Irish News 28 September 2009 Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  22. President for Republican Sinn Féin, Press Association, 15 November 2009.
  23. "Sinn Féin welcomes New President". 13 November 2018.
  24. Saoirse, August 2010
  25. "CSF". Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  26. Hurley, David (8 January 2013). "Dissidents in Limerick at War". News. Limerick Leader. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
  27. "Country Reports on Terrorism: Chapter 6 Terrorist Groups" (PDF). State.gov. p. 97. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  28. "Elected Authorities (Northern Ireland) Act 1989 - Chapter 3". legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
  29. "Elections and Abstentionism". Rsf.ie. Archived from the original on 22 July 2007. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  30. Introduction to registering a political party, Electoral Commission. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  31. Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, Part II, Section 37. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  32. "Leitrim County Council: (Manorhamilton) 1991 Local Election Results, Counts, Stats and Analysis". irelandelection.com. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  33. "Death of veteran Republican Joe O'Neill from Bundoran confirmed". www.donegallive.ie. 3 October 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2024. In local politics Joe O'Neill was a member of the then Bundoran Urban District Council, losing his seat in the 1999 local elections.
  34. "ElectionsIreland.org: 1999 Town Council - Letterkenny First Preference Votes". electionsireland.org. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  35. Irish Republican Information Service, February 2007. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  36. Melaugh, Martin. Assembly Election (NI) Wednesday 7 March 2007. CAIN Web Service. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  37. Whiting, Sophie (2013). "Chapter 4 - Continuity or Dissidence? Assessing the 'dissident' republican standpoint: origins and mandates". Is it still about 'the split'? The ideological basis of 'dissident' Irish republicanism since 1986 (PDF) (PhD of Philosophy thesis). The University of Liverpool. p. 142. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  38. Connemara - Galway County Council summary RTÉ Website Archived 9 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  39. "Who is your new local councillor? Here's a list of everyone elected". TheJournal.ie. 8 June 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2024. Conamara (9) – Thomas Welby (Ind), Niamh Byrne (FG), Seosamh Ó'Cualáin (IND), Seán Ó Tuairisg (FF), Eileen Mannion (FG), Tomás Ó Curraoin (Ind), Tom Healy (SF), Noel Thomas (FF), Seamus Walsh (FF)
  40. McGlinchey, Marisa (2019). Unfinished business: The politics of 'dissident' Irish republicanism. Manchester University Press. ISBN 9781526116222. In 2014 he went on to win 1,072 first preference votes (6.36 per cent) of the total vote.
  41. "Kerry County Council". The Irish Times. Retrieved 14 April 2024. South and West Kerry - 9 seats ... Ind - Garvey, Padraig - 489 - Eliminated
  42. "Galway County Council: Fianna Fáil takes 15 seats". The Irish Times. Retrieved 14 April 2024. (First preference votes: candidates elected in bold) ... Conamara South: 5 seats ... Tomás Ó Curraoin (Ind) - 971 (elected count 4)
  43. "Counts 1-10" (PDF). galway.ie. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  44. "Live results from the 2024 Local Elections and European Elections - Conamara South - Galway County Council". rte.ie. 12 June 2024. Retrieved 12 June 2024.

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Continuity IRA and Republican Sinn Féin
General
Personalities
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Political parties in the Republic of Ireland
Bracketed numbers indicates the current number of seats held by the party in each body
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European Parliament (14 of 720)
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Sinn Féin have elected members and offices at Westminster, but as abstentionists do not take their seats.
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