Sinn Féin should support the nomination of a candidate for the presidency, Gerry Adams told his party’s ardfheis in the Waterfront Hall in Belfast - the first Sinn Féin annual conference to held north of the Border.
Mr Adams however in his address last night did not disclose whether the party would stand a candidate or who that candidate might be.
He said the incoming Sinn Féin ruling ardchomhairle would consider the matter. The ardchomhairle is due to meet next Saturday and party sources said a decision may be taken then on whether to run a candidate from within the party, or to support some other candidate.
“Citizens from all parts of Ireland must be able to vote in presidential elections. Irish citizens living abroad - as is the case with many other states - should have the right to vote also. The presidency is not a trophy for the political establishment,” added Mr Adams.
The Sinn Féin president said he favoured a candidate “who is capable of winning the support of progressive and nationalist opinion and who will reflect the broad republican spirit of the Irish people at this time”.
Mr Adams said that there was “now an entirely peaceful way to bring an end to British rule in our time” and this must involve “republicans reaching out to unionists”.
“This requires us and them to recognise each other’s integrity and to live in peace. We have to understand how we have hurt one another and we must listen to each other,” he said.
“We need to be patient and to seek to find common ground on which we can celebrate our differences and diversity. And as equals. This is a personal priority for me and a political priority for Sinn Féin.”
He added, “Our duty is to develop democratic ways and means to achieve Irish reunification and to unite behind the leadership and the campaigns which will bring this about.”
Mr Adams welcoming delegates to the first ardfheis held in Belfast said that the “Orange state” assisted and supported by the British government had ruled supreme.
“Those days are gone. Done with, over. Unionism, as it comes to terms with this new reality, will be liberated by it. The Orange state is no more. This ardfheis, your presence here, is proof of that.”
On policing in the North he said: “Let me give clear warning that the checks and balances and the accountability mechanisms for policing and justice must be fully implemented. And the malign influence of the Northern Ireland Office and the securocrat old guard must be ended.”
Mr Adams accused the Government of betraying the trust of the people who elected it. “Fine Gael and Labour tore up their election commitments. Instead they are implementing Fianna Fáil policy. Labour spends its time defending the privatisation of public assets and the imposition of unfair taxes on the lowest paid.”
He warned against the sale of State assets. “What kind of society will be left at the end of this crisis if there is no public airline, no public bus company, no public energy body, no post services, no forestry body? What kind of society will be left when they have sold off our performing, essential state assets and natural resources for next to nothing to private interests?”
Mr Adams said Sinn Féin was “now the leading voice of opposition” in Leinster House and that its “recovery plan” would use the remaining reserves in the national pension reserve fund to “introduce a multi-billion euro jobs package”.
“Our plan invests in school and hospital buildings, in broadband roll-out, in developing our agri-food sector so that we can grow our way to recovery and reduce the deficit. Tens of thousands of families are in serious mortgage distress. This cannot be left to the banks. The Government must act now.
“The priority must be to protect family homes. An independent distressed mortgage resolution body is needed with strong powers and a menu of options to help those in greatest need. Anything less is unacceptable.”
He said Sinn Fein would tackle public spending where it was wasteful but would protect social welfare, education and public health budgets.
“Sinn Féin will go after hospital consultants who are among the highest paid in the world. We will go after politicians and top civil servants’ wages and their pension lump-sums. We will protect state assets and get a better deal on our natural resources.
“Sinn Fein will tell private bondholders that they must take the pain of their losses — that the Irish taxpayer will carry them no more. And we will tell the EU/IMF that it’s time for a new deal, a deal that takes account of what the Irish people are able and willing to do.”
Mr Adams said people had a right to know if the Government had a contingency plan if the euro collapses. “Fine Gael and Labour are not being honest. In the teeth of the current crisis Sinn Fein warns against any attempt to hand over further economic power to the EU.”
“Sinn Féin is opposed to further EU centralisation and challenges those in the Irish political establishment who, despite their sham battles, are shamefully subservient to Brussels. And to Frankfurt.”
Mr Adams said Sinn Féin would work with Northern Executive colleagues to confront sectarianism and racism, would continue to tackle rural poverty, transform education, campaign for a bill or rights and an Irish language act and “drive towards a Team Ireland approach to the upcoming Common Agricultural Policy and Common Fishery Policy negotiations”.
