Republican Sinn Féin stages annual conference
One of Ireland’s most hard-line republican organisations, Republican Sinn Féin, staged their annual conference in Dublin today.
The party was formed in the mid-1980s after current Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams took his followers along a more political route.
Traditional Sinn Féin activists, committed to more direct tactics to bring about a united Ireland, broke away at that point to form a party of their own.
Republican Sinn Féin’s reputed military wing is the Continuity IRA, which has been responsible for a number of terrorist attacks in Northern Ireland - sometimes acting in concert with fellow hardliners in the Real IRA – since the mainstream IRA declared a ceasefire.
The link has, however, been repeatedly been denied by the Republican Sinn Féin leadership.
The highlight of the two-day weekend conference, being held in a Dublin hotel, will be tomorrow’s presidential address by leader Ruairi O Bradaigh, ousted as head of Sinn Féin by Mr Adams at the time of the breakaway.
Today’s sessions of the meeting were dealing with the issues of political policy, electoral strategy and republican prisoners.
