Sinn Féin

For other uses, seeSinn Féin (disambiguation).

Sinn Féin
President	Mary Lou McDonald
Vice president	Michelle O'Neill
Chairperson	Declan Kearney
General Secretary	Ken O'Connell
Seanad leader	Vacant
Founder	Arthur Griffith
Founded	28 November 1905(1905-11-28)
Merger of	National Council Cumann na nGaedheal Dungannon Clubs
Headquarters	44Parnell Square,Dublin,Ireland
Newspaper	An Phoblacht
Youth wing	Ógra Shinn Féin
LGBT wing	Sinn Féin LGBTQ
Overseas wing	Friends of Sinn Féin
Membership(2020)	~15,000
Ideology	Irish republicanism Democratic socialism Left-wing nationalism
Political position	Centre-left toleft-wing
European Parliament group	The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL
Colours	Green
Slogan	Tosaíonn athrú anseo ('Change starts here')
Dáil Éireann	33 / 160
Seanad Éireann	2 / 60
Northern Ireland Assembly	27 / 90
House of Commons (NI seats)	7 / 18 (abstentionist)
European Parliament	2 / 14
Local government in the Republic of Ireland	101 / 949
Local government in Northern Ireland	144 / 462
Website
sinnfein.ie
Politics of the Republic of Ireland Political parties Elections Politics of Northern Ireland Political parties Elections

Sinn Féin(/ʃɪnˈfeɪn/shinFAYN,Irish:[ˌʃɪn̠ʲˈfʲeːnʲ];lit. '[We] Ourselves')is anIrish republicananddemocratic socialistpolitical party active in both theRepublic of IrelandandNorthern Ireland.

Theoriginal Sinn Féin organisationwas founded in 1905 byArthur Griffith.Its members founded the revolutionaryIrish Republicand its parliament, theFirst Dáil,and many of them were active in theIrish War of Independence,during which the party was associated with theIrish Republican Army (1919–1922).The party split before theIrish Civil Warand again in its aftermath, giving rise to the two traditionally dominant parties of Irish politics:Fianna Fáil,andCumann na nGaedheal(which becameFine Gael). For several decades the remaining Sinn Féin organisation was small and often without parliamentary representation. It continued its association with theIrish Republican Army.Another split in 1970 at the start ofthe Troublesled to the modern Sinn Féin party, with the other faction eventually becoming theWorkers' Party.

During theTroubles,Sinn Féin was associated with theProvisional Irish Republican Army.For most of that conflict, it was affected bybroadcasting bans in the IrishandBritish media.Although the party sat on local councils, it maintained a policy ofabstentionismfor the BritishHouse of Commonsand the IrishDáil Éireann,standing for election to those legislatures but pledging not to take their seats if elected. AfterGerry Adamsbecame party leader in 1983, electoral politics were prioritised increasingly. In 1986, the party dropped its abstentionist policy for the Dáil; some members formedRepublican Sinn Féinin protest. In the 1990s, Sinn Féin—under the leadership of Adams andMartin McGuinness—was involved in theNorthern Ireland peace process.This led to theGood Friday Agreementand created theNorthern Ireland Assembly,and saw Sinn Féin become part of thepower-sharingNorthern Ireland Executive.In 2006, it co-signed theSt Andrews Agreementand agreed to support thePolice Service of Northern Ireland.

Sinn Féin is the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, having won the largest share of first-preference votes and the most seats in the2022 election,the first time anIrish nationalistparty has done so.Since 2024,Michelle O'Neillhas served as the first ever Irish nationalistFirst Minister of Northern Ireland.From 2007 to 2022, Sinn Féin was the second-largest party in the Assembly, after theDemocratic Unionist Party(DUP), and its nominees served asdeputy First Ministerin the Northern Ireland Executive.

In the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, Sinn Féin has held seven of Northern Ireland's seats since the2024 election;it continues its policy of abstentionism at Westminster. InDáil Éireann,it is the joint-largest party and is the main opposition, having won the largest share of first-preference votes in the2020 election.The currentpresident of Sinn FéinisMary Lou McDonald,who succeeded Gerry Adams in 2018.

Name

The phrase "Sinn Féin" isIrishfor "Ourselves" or "We Ourselves",although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone" (from "Sinn Féin Amháin",an early-20th-century slogan).The name is an assertion of Irish national sovereignty and self-determination, i.e., theIrish peoplegoverning themselves, rather than being part of a political union with Great Britain under theWestminster Parliament.

A split in January 1970, mirroring a split in the IRA, led to the emergence of two groups calling themselves Sinn Féin. One, under the continued leadership ofTomás Mac Giolla,became known as "Sinn Féin (Gardiner Place)", or "Official Sinn Féin"; the other, led byRuairí Ó Brádaigh,became known as "Sinn Féin (Kevin Street)",or"Provisional Sinn Féin".As the" Officials "dropped all mention of Sinn Féin from their name in 1982—instead calling themselves theWorkers' Party—the term "Provisional Sinn Féin" has fallen out of use, and the party is now known simply as "Sinn Féin".

Sinn Féin members have been referred to colloquially as "Shinners", a term intended as apejorative.

History

Main article:History of Sinn Féin

1905–1922

Main articles:Easter Rising,1918 Irish general election,Irish War of Independence,andIrish Civil War

Arthur Griffith is credited as the main founder of the party

Sinn Féin was founded on 28 November 1905, when, at the first annual Convention of the National Council,Arthur Griffithoutlined the Sinn Féin policy, "to establish in Ireland's capital a national legislature endowed with the moral authority of the Irish nation".Its initial political platform was bothconservativeandmonarchist,advocating for an Anglo-Irishdual monarchyunified with the BritishCrown(inspired by theAustro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867).The party contested the1908 North Leitrim by-election,where it secured 27% of the vote.Thereafter, both support and membership fell. At its 1910ard fheis(party conference) attendance was poor, and there was difficulty finding members willing to take seats on the executive.

The campaign car ofJoseph McGuinness,who won the 1917South Longfordby-election whilst imprisoned. He was one of the first Sinn Féin MPs to be elected.

In 1914, Sinn Féin members, including Griffith, joined the anti-RedmondIrish Volunteers,which was referred to byRedmonditesand others as the "Sinn Féin Volunteers". Although Griffith himself did not take part in theEaster Risingof 1916, many Sinn Féin members who were members of the Volunteers and theIrish Republican Brotherhooddid. Government and newspapers dubbed the Rising "the Sinn Féin Rising".After the Rising,republicanscame together under the banner of Sinn Féin, and at the 1917ard fheisthe party committed itself for the first time to the establishment of anIrish Republic.In the1918 general election,Sinn Féin won 73 of Ireland's 105 seats, and in January 1919, its MPs assembled in Dublin and proclaimed themselvesDáil Éireann,the parliament of Ireland. Sinn Féin candidateConstance Markieviczbecame the first woman elected to theUnited Kingdom House of Commons.However, in line with Sinn Féinabstentionistpolicy, she did not take her seat in the House of Commons.

The party supported theIrish Republican Armyduring theWar of Independence,and members of the Dáil government negotiated theAnglo-Irish Treatywith the British government in 1921. In the Dáil debates that followed, the party divided on the Treaty. The pro-Treaty and anti-Treaty components (led byMichael CollinsandÉamon de Valerarespectively) managed to agree on a "Coalition Panel" of Sinn Féin candidates to stand in the1922 general election.After the election, anti-Treaty members walked out of the Dáil, and pro- and anti-Treaty members took opposite sides in the ensuingCivil War.

1923–1970

Pro-Treaty Dáil deputies and other Treaty supporters formed a new party,Cumann na nGaedheal,on 27 April 1923 at a meeting in Dublin, where delegates agreed on a constitution and political programme.Cumann na nGaedheal went on to govern the newIrish Free Statefor nine years (it merged with two other organisations to formFine Gaelin 1933).Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin members continued to boycott the Dáil. At a specialArd Fheisin March 1926, de Valera proposed that elected members be allowed to take their seats in the Dáil if and when the controversialOath of Allegiancewas removed. When his motion was defeated, de Valera resigned from Sinn Féin; on 16 May 1926, he founded his own party,Fianna Fáil,which was dedicated to republicanising the Free State from within its political structures. He took most Sinn FéinTeachtaí Dála(TDs) with him.De Valera's resignation meant also the loss of financial support from America.The rump Sinn Féin party could field no more than fifteen candidates,and won only five seats in theJune 1927 general election,a decline in support not seen since before 1916.Vice-president andde factoleaderMary MacSwineyannounced that the party simply did not have the funds to contestthe second election called that year,declaring "no true Irish citizen can vote for any of the other parties".Fianna Fáil came to power at the1932 general election(to begin what would be an unbroken 16-year spell in government) and went on to long dominate politics in the independent Irish state.

An attempt in the 1940s to access funds that had been put in the care of theHigh Courtled to theSinn Féin Funds case,which the party lost and in which the judge ruled that it was not the legal successor to the Sinn Féin of 1917.

By the late 1940s, two decades removed from the Fianna Fáil split and now the Sinn Féin funds lost, the party was little more than a husk. The emergence of a popular new republican party, led by former IRA members, inClann na Poblachta,threatened to void any remaining purpose Sinn Féin had left. However, it was around this same time that the IRA leadership once again sought to have a political arm (the IRA and Sinn Féin had effectively no formal ties following the civil war).Following an IRA army convention in 1948, IRA members were instructed to join Sinn Féin en masse and by 1950 they had successfully taken total control of the party, with IRA army council memberPaddy McLogannamed as the new president of the party. As part of this rapprochement, it was later made clear by the army council that the IRA would dictate to Sinn Féin, and not the other way around.

At the1955 United Kingdom general election,two Sinn Féin candidates were elected to Westminster, and likewise, four members of Sinn Féin were elected to Leinster House in the1957 Irish general election.In December 1956, at the beginning of the IRA'sBorder Campaign (Operation Harvest),the Northern Ireland Government banned Sinn Féin under theSpecial Powers Act;it would remain banned until 1974.By the end of the Border campaign five years later, the party had once again lost all national representation.Through the 1960s, some leading figures in the movement, such asCathal Goulding,Seán Garland,Billy McMillen,Tomás Mac Giolla,moved steadily to the left, even toMarxism,as a result of their own reading and thinking and contacts with the Irish and international left. This angered more traditional republicans, who wanted to stick to the national question and armed struggle.The Garland Commission was set up in 1967, to investigate the possibility of ending abstentionism. Its report angered the already disaffected traditional republican element within the party, notablySeán Mac Stíofáinand Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, who viewed such a policy as treason against the Irish Republic.

1970–1975

Ruairí Ó Brádaigh(pictured in 2004) was the president of Provisional Sinn Féin from 1970 until 1983.

Sinn Féin split in two at the beginning of 1970. On 11 January, the proposal to end abstentionism and take seats, if elected, in the Dáil, theParliament of Northern Irelandand the Parliament of the United Kingdom was put before the members at the party'sArd Fheis.A similar motion had been adopted at an IRA convention the previous month, leading to the formation of a Provisional Army Council by Mac Stíofáin and other members opposed to the leadership. When the motion was put to theArd Fheis,it failed to achieve the necessary two-thirds majority. The Executive attempted to circumvent this by introducing a motion in support of IRA policy, at which point the dissenting delegates walked out of the meeting.These members reconvened at Kevin Barry Hall inParnell Square,where they appointed a Caretaker Executive with Ruairí Ó Brádaigh as chairman.The Caretaker Executive's first act was to pass aresolutionpledging allegiance to the 32-county Irish Republic and the Provisional Army Council.It also declared itself opposed to the ending of abstentionism, the drift towards "extreme forms of socialism", the failure of the leadership to defend the nationalist people of Belfast during the1969 Northern Ireland riots,and the expulsion of traditional republicans by the leadership during the 1960s.

At its October 1970Ard Fheis,delegates were informed that an IRA convention had been held and had regularised its structure, bringing to an end the "provisional" period.By then, however, the label "Provisional" or "Provo" was already being applied to them by the media.The opposing, anti-abstentionist party became known as "Official Sinn Féin".It changed its name in 1977 to "Sinn Féin—The Workers' Party",and in 1982 to "The Workers' Party".

Because the "Provisionals" were committed to military rather than political action, Sinn Féin's initial membership was largely confined, inDanny Morrison's words, to men "over military age or women".A Sinn Féin organiser of the time inBelfastdescribed the party's role as "agitation and publicity"Newcumainn(branches) were established in Belfast, and a new newspaper,Republican News,was published.Sinn Féin took off as a protest movement after the introduction ofinternmentin August 1971, organising marches and pickets.The party launched its platform,Éire Nua( "a New Ireland" ) at the 1971Ard Fheis.In general, however, the party lacked a distinct political philosophy. In the words of Brian Feeney, "Ó Brádaigh would use Sinn Féinard fheiseanna(party conferences) to announce republican policy, which was, in effect, IRA policy, namely that Britain should leave the North or the 'war' would continue ".

In May 1974, a few months after theSunningdale Agreement,the ban on Sinn Féin was lifted by the UKSecretary of State for Northern Ireland.Sinn Féin was given a concrete presence in the community when theIRA declared a ceasefire in 1975.'Incident centres', manned by Sinn Féin members, were set up to communicate potential confrontations to the British authorities.

From 1976, there was a broadcasting ban on Sinn Féin representatives in the Republic of Ireland, after theMinister for Posts and Telegraphs,Conor Cruise O'Brien,amendedSection 31 of the Broadcasting Act.This preventedRTÉinterviewing Sinn Féin spokespersons under any circumstances, even where the subject was not related to the Northern Ireland conflict.This lasted until 1994.

1976–1983

Political status for prisoners became an issue after the ending of the truce. Rees released the last of the internees, and ended 'Special Category Status' for all prisoners convicted after 1 March 1976. This led first to theblanket protest,and then to thedirty protest.Around the same time,Gerry Adamsbegan writing forRepublican News,calling for Sinn Féin to become more involved politically.Over the next few years, Adams and those aligned with him would extend their influence throughout the republican movement and slowly marginalise Ó Brádaigh, part of a general trend of power in both Sinn Féin and the IRA shifting north.In particular, Ó Brádaigh's part in the 1975 IRA ceasefire had damaged his reputation in the eyes of northern republicans.

The prisoners' protest climaxed with the1981 hunger strike,during which strikerBobby Sandswas elected Member of Parliament forFermanagh and South Tyroneas anAnti H-Blockcandidate. After his death on hunger strike, his seat was held, with an increased vote, by his election agent,Owen Carron.Two other Anti H-Block candidates were elected toDáil Éireannin thegeneral election in the Republic.These successes convinced republicans that they should contest every election.Danny Morrison expressed the mood at the 1981Ard Fheiswhen he said:

Who here really believes we can win the war through the ballot box? But will anyone here object if, with a ballot paper in this hand and anArmalitein the other, we take power in Ireland?

This was the origin of what became known as theArmalite and ballot box strategy.Ó Brádaigh's chief policy, a plan for a federalised Irish state dubbedÉire Nua,was dropped in 1982, and the following year Ó Brádaigh stepped down as president, and was replaced by Adams.

1983–1998

Under the political leadership ofGerry AdamsandMartin McGuinness(pictured 2016), Sinn Féin adopted a reformist policy, eventually leading to theGood Friday Agreement.

Under Adams' leadership electoral politics became increasingly important. In 1983Alex Maskeywas elected toBelfast City Council,the first Sinn Féin member to sit on that body.Sinn Féin polled over 100,000 votes in theWestminster elections that year,and Adams won theWest Belfastseat that had been held by theSocial Democratic and Labour Party(SDLP).By 1985it had 59 seats on seventeen of the 26 Northern Ireland councils, including seven on Belfast City Council.

The party began a reappraisal of the policy of abstention from the Dáil. At the 1983Ard Fheisthe constitution was amended to remove the ban on the discussion of abstentionism to allow Sinn Féin to run a candidate in the forthcoming European elections. However, in his address, Adams said, "We are an abstentionist party. It is not my intention to advocate change in this situation."A motion to permit entry into the Dáil was allowed at the 1985Ard Fheis,but did not have the active support of the leadership, and it failed narrowly.By October of the following year an IRA Convention had indicated its support for elected Sinn Féin TDs taking their seats. Thus, when the motion to end abstention was put to theArd Fheison 1 November 1986, it was clear that there would not be a split in the IRA as there had been in 1970.The motion was passed with a two-thirds majority. Ó Brádaigh and about twenty other delegates walked out, and met in a Dublin hotel with hundreds of supporters to re-organise asRepublican Sinn Féin.

In October 1988, the British Conservative government followed the Republic in banning broadcasts of Sinn Féin representatives. Prime MinisterMargaret Thatchersaid it would "deny terrorists the oxygen of publicity". Broadcasters quickly found ways around the ban, mainly by using actors to dub the voices of banned speakers. The legislation did not apply during election campaigns and under certain other circumstances. The ban lasted until 1994.

Tentative negotiations between Sinn Féin and the British government led to more substantive discussions with the SDLP in the 1990s. Multi-party negotiations began in 1994 in Northern Ireland, without Sinn Féin. The Provisional IRA declared a ceasefire in August 1994. Sinn Féin then joined the talks, but theConservativegovernment underJohn Majorsoon came to depend on unionist votes to remain in power. It suspended Sinn Féin from the talks, and began to insist that the IRA decommission all of their weapons before Sinn Féin be re-admitted to the talks; this led to the IRA calling off its ceasefire. The newLabourgovernment ofTony Blairwas not reliant on unionist votes and re-admitted Sinn Féin, leading to another, permanent, ceasefire.

The talks led to theGood Friday Agreementof 10 April 1998, which set up an inclusive devolved government in Northern Ireland, and altered the Dublin government's constitutional claim to the whole island inArticles 2 and 3 of the Constitution of Ireland.Republicans opposed to the direction taken by Sinn Féin in the peace process formed the32 County Sovereignty Movementin the late 1990s.

1998–2017

The election ofCaoimhghín Ó Caoláinto the Dáil in 1997 was the first time in 75 years a Sinn Féin TD had taken their seat and marked a turning point in the party's history

At the1997 Irish general election,Caoimhghín Ó Caoláinwas elected to the Dáil. In doing so, he became the first person under the "Sinn Féin" banner to be elected to Leinster House since1957,and the first since 1922 to take their seat.Ó Caoláin's entry to the Dáil marked the beginning of a continuous Sinn Féin presence in the Republic of Ireland's national political bodies.

The party expelledDenis Donaldson,a party official, in December 2005, with him stating publicly that he had been in the employ of the British government as an agent since the 1980s. Donaldson told reporters that the British security agencies who employed him were behind the collapse of the Assembly and set up Sinn Féin to take the blame for it, a claim disputed by the British government.Donaldson was found fatally shot in his home inCounty Donegalon 4 April 2006, and a murder inquiry was launched.In April 2009, theReal IRAreleased a statement taking responsibility for the killing.

When Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) became the largest parties, by the terms of the Good Friday Agreement no deal could be made without the support of both parties. They nearly reached a deal in November 2004, but the DUP insisted on photographic and/or video evidence thatdecommissioning of IRA weaponshad been carried out, which was unacceptable to Sinn Féin.

In April 2006 a number of members of Sinn Féin who believed the party was not committed enough to socialism split from the party and formed a new group calledÉirígí,which later became a (minor) political party in its own right.

On 2 September 2006, Martin McGuinness publicly stated that Sinn Féin would refuse to participate in a shadow assembly at Stormont, asserting that his party would only take part in negotiations that were aimed at restoring a power-sharing government. This development followed a decision on the part of members of Sinn Féin to refrain from participating in debates since the Assembly's recall the previous May. The relevant parties to these talks were given a deadline of 24 November 2006 to decide upon whether or not they would ultimately form the executive.

The 86-year Sinn Féin boycott of policing in Northern Ireland ended on 28 January 2007, when theArd Fheisvoted overwhelmingly to support thePolice Service of Northern Ireland(PSNI).Sinn Féin members began to sit on Policing Boards and join District Policing Partnerships.There was opposition to this decision within Sinn Féin, and some members left, including elected representatives. The most well-known opponent was former IRA prisonerGerry McGeough,who stood in the2007 Assembly electionagainst Sinn Féin in the constituency ofFermanagh and South Tyrone,as an Independent Republican.He polled 1.8% of the vote.Others who opposed this development left to found theRepublican Network for Unity.

Sinn Féin supported a no vote in the referendum on theTwenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2008.

Immediately after theJune 2017 UK general election,where the Conservatives won 49% of seats but not an overall majority, so that non-mainstream parties could have significant influence, Gerry Adams announced for Sinn Féin that their elected MPs would continue the policy of not swearingallegiance to the Queen,as would be required for them to take their seats in the Westminster Parliament.

In 2017 and 2018 there were allegations of bullying within the party, leading to a number of resignations and expulsions of elected members.

At theArd Fheison 18 November 2017, Gerry Adams announced he would stand down as president of Sinn Féin in 2018, and would not stand for re-election as TD forLouth.

2018–present

Mary Lou McDonaldandMichelle O'Neillin February 2018

On 10 February 2018,Mary Lou McDonaldwas announced as the new president of Sinn Féin at a special Ard Fheis in Dublin.Michelle O'Neillwas also elected as vice president of the party.

Sinn Féin were opposed to Northern Irelandleaving the European Uniontogether with the rest of the United Kingdom, withMartin McGuinnesssuggesting a referendum on thereunification of Irelandimmediately after the2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendumresults were announced,a stance later reiterated by McDonald as a way of resolving theborder issues raised by Brexit.

Sinn Féin's first elections under McDonald resulted in the party performing well under its own expectations during the2018 Irish presidential electionthat October,and similarly, the party's performance was labelled "disastrous" during the concurrent May2019 European Parliament election in Irelandand2019 Irish local elections.In the European elections, Sinn Féin lost 2 MEPs and dropped their vote share by 7.8%, while in the local elections the party lost 78 (almost half) of their local councillors and dropped their vote share by 5.7%. McDonald stated "It was a really bad day out for us. But sometimes that happens in politics, and it's a test for you. I mean it's a test for me personally, obviously, as the leader".

However, in the2020 Irish general election,Sinn Féin received the greatest number of first preference votes nationally, making it the best result for any incarnation of Sinn Féin sincethe 1922 election.Fianna Fáil,Fine Gaeland theGreen Partyformed a coalition government in June 2020.Although second on seats won at the election, Sinn Féin became the largest party in the Dáil whenMarc MacSharryresigned fromFianna Fáilin September 2021, which, withSeán Ó Fearghaílsitting asCeann Comhairle,left Sinn Féin the largest party by one seat.Sinn Féin lost their numerical advantage in February 2022 following the resignation ofViolet-Anne Wynne.

In November 2020, the national chairman of Sinn FéinDeclan Kearneycontacted several dissident republican political parties such asSaoradh,Republican Network for Unityand theIrish Republican Socialist Partyabout creating a united republican campaign to call for a referendum on Irish unification. This information did not become publicly known until 2022 and the move was criticised in some quarters on the basis that it would be wrong for Sinn Féin to work with dissident republican groups which do not repudiate violence by paramilitaries. Sinn Féin retorted that engaging with dissident republicans draws them into the democratic process and political solutions instead of violent ones.

Sinn Féin won 29% of thefirst-preference votesin the2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election,the highest share of any party. With 27 out of 90 seats, they became the largest party in Stormont for the first time ever."Today ushers in a new era", O'Neill said shortly before the final results were announced. "Irrespective of religious, political or social backgrounds, my commitment is to make politics work."

Following the2023 Northern Ireland local elections,Sinn Féin became the largest party in local government for the first time.Then, in the local elections in the Republic of Irelandin 2024,Sinn Féin increased their vote share, however, significantly fell short of the polls, showcasing a divide between the party's leadership and grassroots over immigration, with disgruntled Sinn Féin voters voting instead for small right-wing parties.However, following the2024 United Kingdom general election,Sinn Féin became the single largest party representing Northern Ireland in Westminster.

Past links with Republican paramilitaries

Sinn Féin is the largestIrish republicanpolitical party, and was historically associated with theIrish Republican Army,while also having been associated with theProvisional Irish Republican Armyin the party's modern incarnation. The Irish government alleged that senior members of Sinn Féin have held posts on theIRA Army Council.However, the SF leadership has denied these claims.

A republican document of the early 1980s stated: "Both Sinn Féin and the IRA play different but converging roles in the war of national liberation. The Irish Republican Army wages an armed campaign... Sinn Féin maintains the propaganda war and is the public and political voice of the movement".Robert White states at that time Sinn Féin was the junior partner in the relationship with the IRA, and they were separate organisations despite there being some overlapping membership.

Because of the party's links to the Provisional IRA, theU.S. Department of Statebarred its members along with IRA volunteers from entering the U.S. since the early 1970s in accordance with theImmigration and Nationality Acton the grounds that they were associated with the IRA waging war against a legitimate government.

TheBritish governmentstated in 2005 that "we had always said all the way through we believed that Sinn Féin and the IRA were inextricably linked and that had obvious implications at leadership level".

TheNorthern Bank robberyof £26.5 million in Belfast in December 2004 further delayed a political deal in Northern Ireland. The IRA were widely blamed for the robbery,although Sinn Féin denied this and stated that party officials had not known of the robbery nor sanctioned it.Because of the timing of the robbery, it is considered that the plans for the robbery must have been laid whilst Sinn Féin was engaged in talks about a possible peace settlement. This undermined confidence amongunionistsabout the sincerity of republicans towards reaching agreement. In the aftermath of the row over the robbery, a further controversy erupted when, onRTÉ'sQuestions and Answersprogramme, the chairman of Sinn Féin,Mitchel McLaughlin,insisted that the IRA's controversial killing of a mother of ten young children,Jean McConville,in the early 1970s though "wrong", was not a crime, as it had taken place in the context of the political conflict. Politicians from the Republic, along with the Irish media, strongly attacked McLaughlin's comments.

On 10 February 2005, the government-appointedIndependent Monitoring Commissionreported that it firmly supported thePSNIandGarda Síochánaassessments that the IRA was responsible for the Northern Bank robbery and that certain senior members of Sinn Féin were also senior members of the IRA and would have had knowledge of and given approval to the carrying out of the robbery.Sinn Féin has argued that the IMC is not independent, and that the inclusion of formerAlliance PartyleaderJohn Alderdiceand a British security head was proof of this.The IMC recommended further financial sanctions against Sinn Féin members of the Northern Ireland Assembly. The British government responded by saying it would ask MPs to vote to withdraw the parliamentary allowances of the four Sinn Féin MPs elected in 2001.

Gerry Adams responded to the IMC report by challenging the Irish government to have him arrested for IRA membership—a crime in both jurisdictions—and forconspiracy.

On 20 February 2005,Irish Minister for Justice, Equality and Law ReformMichael McDowellpublicly accused three of the Sinn Féin leadership, Gerry Adams,Martin McGuinnessandMartin Ferris(TD forKerry North) of being on the seven-man IRA Army Council; they later denied this.

On 27 February 2005, a demonstration against the murder ofRobert McCartneyon 30 January 2005 was held in east Belfast.Alex Maskey,a former Sinn FéinLord Mayor of Belfast,was told by relatives of McCartney to "hand over the 12" IRA members involved.The McCartney family, although formerly Sinn Féin voters themselves, urged witnesses to the crime to contact the PSNI.Three IRA men were expelled from the organisation, and a man was charged with McCartney's murder.

IrishTaoiseachBertie Ahernsubsequently called Sinn Féin and the IRA "both sides of the same coin".In February 2005Dáil Éireannpassed a motion condemning the party's alleged involvement in illegal activity. TheBush Administrationdid not invite Sinn Féin or any other Northern Irish political party to the annualSt Patrick's Daycelebrations at theWhite House,choosing instead to invite the family of Robert McCartney.SenatorTed Kennedy,a regular sponsor of Gerry Adams' visits to the US during the peace process, also refused to meet Adams and hosted the McCartney family instead.

On 10 March 2005, theHouse of Commonsin London passed without significant opposition a motion, introduced by the British government, to withdraw the allowances of the four Sinn Féin MPs for one year, in response to the Northern Bank Robbery. This measure cost the party approximately £400,000. However, the debate prior to the vote mainly surrounded the more recent events connected with the murder of Robert McCartney. Conservatives and unionists put down amendments to have the Sinn Féin MPs evicted from their offices at the House of Commons but these were defeated.

In March 2005,Mitchell Reiss,theUnited States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland,condemned the party's links to the IRA, saying "it is hard to understand how a European country in the year 2005 can have a private army associated with a political party".

The October 2015Assessment on Paramilitary Groups in Northern Irelandconcluded that the Provisional IRA still existed "in a much reduced form", and that some IRA members believed its Army Council oversaw both the IRA and Sinn Féin, although it believed that the leadership "remains committed to the peace process and its aim of achieving a united Ireland by political means".

Organisation and structure

Members of Sinn Féin's National Officer Board

Treasurer:Pearse Doherty

Treasurer:Conor Murphy

Chairperson:Declan Kearney

Director of Publicity: Ciarán Quinn

General Secretary: Ken O'Connell

Vice-President:Michelle O'Neill

President:Mary Lou McDonald

Sinn Féin operates under the principle ofdemocratic centralism;the concept that policy should be debated internally within the party, and once a decision is made, all members must support the chosen policy publicly or be disciplined. Once a decision has been made, it cannot be revisited or altered for a prolonged period of time.

Decision-making within Sinn Féin is controlled by two bodies; the national officer board and the Árd Comhairle (national executive).The national officer board consists of 7 members, made up of the President of Sinn Féin, the Vice President, the chairperson, the General Secretary, the Director of Publicity and two treasurers.Policy will be debated amongst the national officer board before next being brought before the Árd Comhairle.

Sinn Féin's Árd Comhairle consists of 47 members. Members of the national officer board are automatically members, while the rest of the membership is made up of officers elected at Sinn Féin's annual national conference (Ard Fheis). Members of the Árd Comhairle must already be members of the Comhairlí Limistéir (Area councils), which are based county or constituency boundaries.As of 2023,despite the fact that the bulk majority of Sinn Féin's membership and elected representatives come from the Republic of Ireland, the majority of the Árd Comhairle is from Northern Ireland.For every 2 TDs on the Árd Comhairle, there are 3 MLAs.Some members of the Árd Comhairle hold no public office and are former members of the Provisional IRA.

When a decision is made by the Árd Comhairle, all members of Sinn Féin must abide by it without dissent, including the President. In 2020, all of Sinn Féin's candidates in the 2020 Irish general election were required to sign a pledge stating "in all matters pertaining to the duties and functions of an elected representative, I will be guided by and hold myself amenable to all directions and instructions issued to me by An Ard Chomhairle of Sinn Féin".

Within the Árd Comhairle, there is a further subdivision, called the Coiste Seasta (Standing Committee), made up of 8 members, who act as aCentral Committee.Unlike other Teachtaí Dála from other parties, Sinn Féin TDs are not allowed to hire their own staff and instead the Coiste Seasta chooses staff for them. Some Sinn Féin TDs have complained of these staff members handing them scripts to read publicly which they had no input into writing.

Some critics inside Sinn Féin have opined that decision-making in the party rests with the officer board and that the Árd Comhairle serves merely torubberstampdecisions that have already been made.External critics have called Sinn Féin's organisation and structure "opaque", "hierarchial", "confusing" and "undemocratic".Former Sinn Féin TDPeadar Tóibínclaimed in 2020 that Sinn Féin TDs have "zero influence" over party policy, and that all decisions ultimately rested with the national officer board.It was also in 2020 that both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil criticised Sinn Féin's organisation, withPatrick O'Donovanof Fine Gael stating "the fact that Sinn Féin reps sign a pledge which says they will be guided by their Ard Chomhairle, a council of people not elected by the public, rather than those who elect them, is an outright affront to democracy".In 2022 the left-wing political magazineVillageopined that while all major political parties in Ireland are influenced by unelected individuals, Sinn Féin is disproportionally controlled by a "backroom regime", and alleged that the Coiste Seasta, made up of unelected Northerners and former IRA members, holds the power to influence the decisions of TDs.

Sinn Féin denies the allegations that its structure is undemocratic and has compared its organisation to other Irish political parties such as Fianna Fáil.Sinn Féin maintains it is a bottom-up, not a top-down organisation and that, ultimately, decision-making comes from its annual Ard Fhéis and the votes of ordinary members.In 2020 Mary Lou McDonald dismissed suggestions that Sinn Féin, including herself, were controlled by "shadowy figures" as an idea rooted in sexism. In 2020 she stated "I have a strong sense that there is at least an undertone of sexism and misogyny in suggesting that our strings are pulled. I'm very stubborn. I'm very willful. I know my own mind and God help anybody who tries to pull my strings or tell me what to do".while in 2021 she stated that people needed to get over the "sexist" idea that "this woman couldn't possibly be really the leader of Sinn Féin. Well guess what? I really am, boys".

Ideology and policies

Sinn Féin is anIrish republican,democratic socialistandleft-wingparty.In theEuropean Parliament,the party aligns itself withThe Left in the European Parliament - GUE/NGLparliamentary group. Categorised as "populist socialist" in literature,in 2014 leading party strategist and ideologueEoin Ó Broindescribed Sinn Féin's entire political project as unashamedly populist.The party has been classed asleft-wing nationalistandleft-wing populistin academia, noting that while Sinn Féin engages in the "us vs them" dynamic of populism, it does so by engaging in the language of "the people vs elites" without resorting to using anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Social and cultural

Sinn Féin's main political goal is aunited Ireland.Other key policies from their most recent election manifesto are listed below:

• The 18Northern Ireland MPswho sit or have sat in theParliament of the United Kingdomto be allowed to sit in Dáil Éireann as full Deputies as well
• Ending academic selection within the education system
• Diplomatic pressure to closeSellafieldnuclear reprocessing plant (in Britain)
• A draft Irish Language Bill for Northern Ireland (Acht na Gaeilge),a Bill that would give theIrish languagethe same status that theWelsh languagehas in Wales
• The "plastic bag levy"to be extended to Northern Ireland
• To further Irish-language teaching in Northern Ireland
• Same-sex marriageto be extended to Northern Ireland(It was subsequently legalised via an Act of the UK Parliament in 2019.)
• Passing a ban onconversion therapy.
• A pay cap for Sinn Féin TDs tied to the "average industrial wage".

Sinn Féin believes in immigration, both to fill up vacancies in employment, if the system can properly integrate new immigrants and has the resources to do so, and also to "protect people fleeing persecution and war", but not in "open borders".The party also believes in faster application processing times for refugees, and in abolishing thedirect provisionsystem.

Economy

At the most recent election in the Republic of Ireland,Sinn Féin committed to:

• 100,000 social and affordable homes over 5 years, along with a ban on rent increases for three years and a tax credit worth up to one month's rent
• Tapering out tax credits for workers earning over €120,000
• Investing €75 million into creating a Worker Co-operative development fund
• AbolishingUniversal Social Charge(USC) for workers earning less than €30,000
• Establishing a state owned childcare service
• Establishment of a government fund to aid small and medium enterprises
• An "all-Ireland" economy with a common currency and one tax
• Abolishing Property Tax

As of January 2022, Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland have committed to:

• 100,000 social and affordable homes over 15 years, plus passing a new Private Tenancies Bill.
• Abolishing VAT on fuel and energy-related goods
• Freezing domestic and commercial rates (outlined by Finance MinisterConor Murphyin the Irish government's 2022/25 budget)
• Capping costs of school uniforms and providing Free School Meal payments outside of term time
• £55 million to assist households with rises in energy bills
• Standardising the minimum wage across all age groups, and introducing a living wage
• Banning zero-hour contracts
• Introducing a "right to disconnect"from work
• One month's free childcare for unemployed/low income parents through the Advisory Discretionary Fund

Health

At the most recent election in the Republic of Ireland,Sinn Féin committed to:

• An "All-Ireland-Health-Service" akin to theNational Health Serviceof the United Kingdom
• Cap on consultants' pay
• Abolishment of prescription charges for medical card patients
• Expansion of primary care centres
• Gradual removal of subsidies of private practice in public hospitals and the introduction of a charge for practitioners for the use of public equipment and staff in their private practice
• Free breast screening (to check for breast cancer) of all women over forty

Abortion

Members of Sinn Féin calling for a Yes vote in the2018 referendum on abortion in Ireland

Until at least 2007, the party was not in favour of the extension of legalised abortion (British 1967 Act) to Northern Ireland; Assembly memberJohn O'Dowdsaid that they were "opposed to the attitudes and forces in society, which pressurise women to have abortions, and criminalise those who make this decision", adding that "in cases of rape, incest or sexual abuse, or where a woman's life and health is at risk or in grave danger, we accept that the final decision must rest with the woman."It voted for theProtection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013,which allowed for termination in cases where a pregnancy endangered a woman's life.It voted to support termination, in those limited circumstances, at the 2015Ard Fheis,but stopped short of supporting abortion on demand.In the2018 Irish abortion referendum,the party campaigned for a "Yes" vote, while remaining opposed to abortion without restriction up to 12 weeks.At itsArd Fheisin June 2018, the month after the "yes" vote in the abortion referendum, the party committed itself to supporting abortion, including without restriction up to 12 weeks.This allowed it not only to support abortion legislation in the Republic, but also to campaign for provision of abortion in Northern Ireland.Sinn Féin TDPeadar Tóibín,who was suspended from the party for voting against abortion legislation, left to form a new party:Aontú.

Sinn Féin have been accused of hypocrisy over their positions on abortion in Northern Ireland.In 2021, Sinn Féin abstained on a Stormont vote on restricting abortion access in the case of fetal abnormalities or disabilities, attracting criticism from bothanti-abortionand pro-choice groups, with theAbortion Rights Campaignsaying they "let down abortion seekers"andEamonn McCannaccusing them of being "impaled on the fence on the issue", but with anti-abortion politicians such asPeadar Tóibínaccusing them of "speaking out of both sides of their mouth" on the issue.Later in the year,Amnesty Internationalmade a public statement calling on the party to "support full abortion rights across the island of Ireland".

Transgender health care

Historically the party has supported access to gender affirming healthcare for transgender individuals. However in 2024 after the UK’s Conservative Party enacted a ban on puberty blockers following theCass Review,Sinn Féin allowed the ban to be extended to Northern Ireland, closing what some considered a “loophole” regarding access to such treatments in the UK.

International relations

Mary Lou McDonald signing a book of condolences forFidel Castroat the Cuban Embassy in Dublin in 2016

Niall Ó Donnghaile,Seán Croweand members ofÓgra Shinn Féinat a pro-Palestine rally held by the party in Dublin in 2017

Members of Sinn Féin protesting againstBrexitand a "hard border" being implemented between Northern Ireland and Ireland in 2019

Martin McGuinness,Seán CroweandGerry Adamsin 2014 showing their support forCatalan independenceby holding a redEstelada

Sinn Féin has longstanding fraternal ties with theAfrican National Congressand was described byNelson Mandelaas an "old friend and ally in the anti-apartheid struggle".Sinn Féin supports the independence ofCataloniafrom Spain,Palestinein theIsraeli–Palestinian conflict,and the right to self-determination regarding independence of theBasque Countryfrom Spain and France.Sinn Féin opposes theUnited States embargo against Cubaand has called for a normalization of relations between the two countries.In 2016, the Sinn Féin party president,Gerry Adamswas invited by the Cuban government to attend the state funeral ofFidel Castrowhom Adams described as a "freedom fighter" and a "friend of Ireland's struggle".Sinn Féin is opposed toNATOmembership.

European Union

Historically, Sinn Féin has been considered to beEurosceptic.The party campaigned for a "No" vote in the Irishreferendumon joining theEuropean Economic Communityin 1972.Sinn Féin was on the same side of the debate as the DUP and most of theUlster Unionist Party(UUP) in that they wanted to pull out when UK had its referendum in 1975.The party was critical of the supposed need for anEU constitutionas proposed in 2002,and urged a "No" vote in the 2008 referendum on theLisbon Treaty,although Mary Lou McDonald said that there was "no contradiction in being pro-Europe, but anti-treaty".In its manifesto for the2015 UK general election,Sinn Féin pledged that the party would campaign for the UK to stay within theEuropean Union(EU), with Martin McGuinness saying that an exit "would be absolutely economically disastrous". Gerry Adams said that, if there were to be a referendum on the question, there ought to be a separate and binding referendum for Northern Ireland.Its policy of a "Europe of Equals", and its critical engagement after 2001, together with its engagement with theEuropean Parliament,marks a change from the party's previous opposition to the EU. The party expresses, on one hand, "support for Europe-wide measures that promote and enhance human rights, equality and theall-Ireland agenda",and on the other a" principled opposition "to aEuropean superstate.This has led political commentators to define the party assoft Euroscepticsince the 21st century.

Since moving to this "soft Euroscepticism" position, Sinn Féin support a policy of "critical engagement with the EU", and have a "principled opposition" to aEuropean superstate.It opposes anEU constitutionbecause it would reduce thesovereigntyof the member-states.It also critiques the EU on grounds ofneoliberalism.Sinn FéinMEPMatt Carthysays that the "European Union must become a cooperative union of nation states committed to working together on issues such as climate change, migration, trade, and using our common strengths to improve the lives of citizens. If it does not, EU disintegration becomes a real possibility."The party supported continued UK membership of theEuropean Unionin the UK's2016 EU referendumand in April 2022, Mary Lou McDonald said in the Dáil that "We strongly support the Ukrainian people's stated desire to join the European Union".

Leadership history

Main article:President of Sinn Féin

Name	Dates	Notes
Edward Martyn	1905–1908
John Sweetman	1908–1911
Arthur Griffith	1911–1917
Éamon de Valera	1917–1926	Resigned from Sinn Féin and formedFianna Fáilin 1926
John J. O'Kelly(Sceilg)	1926–1931
Brian O'Higgins	1931–1933
Michael O'Flanagan	1933–1935
Cathal Ó Murchadha	1935–1937
Margaret Buckley	1937–1950	Party's first woman president.
Paddy McLogan	1950–1952
Tomás Ó Dubhghaill	1952–1954
Paddy McLogan	1954–1962
Tomás Mac Giolla	1962–1970	From 1970 was president of Official Sinn Féin, renamed The Workers' Party in 1982.
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh	1970–1983	Left Sinn Féin and formed Republican Sinn Féin in 1986.
Gerry Adams	1983–2018	Longest-served president in the party's history and TD forLouthfrom 2011 to 2020.
Mary Lou McDonald	2018–present	TD forDublin Centralsince 2011.

Ministers and spokespeople

Northern Ireland

See also:Executive of the 6th Northern Ireland Assembly

• First Minister of Northern Ireland:Michelle O'Neill
• Minister for Communities:Deirdre Hargey
• Minister of Finance:Conor Murphy
• Minister of Infrastructure:John O'Dowd

Republic of Ireland

See also:Sinn Féin Front Bench

Portfolio	Name
Leader of the Opposition President of Sinn Féin	Mary Lou McDonald
Deputy Leader of Sinn Féin in theDáil Spokesperson onFinance	Pearse Doherty
Spokesperson onAgriculture, Food and the Marine	Matt Carthy
Spokesperson onChildren, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth	Kathleen Funchion
Spokesperson onEnvironment, Climate and CommunicationsandTransport	Darren O'Rourke
Spokesperson onCommunity and Rural Development and the Islands	Claire Kerrane
Spokesperson onSocial Protection
Spokesperson onDefence	John Brady
Spokesperson onForeign Affairs
Spokesperson onEducation	Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire
Spokesperson onEnterprise, Trade and Employment	Louise O'Reilly
Spokesperson onHealth	David Cullinane
Spokesperson onIrish, the Gaeltacht, Arts and Culture	Aengus Ó Snodaigh
Spokesperson onHigher Education, Innovation and Science	Rose Conway-Walsh
Spokesperson onHousing, Local Government and Heritage	Eoin Ó Broin
Spokesperson onJustice	Martin Kenny
Spokesperson onTourism, Sport and Media	Imelda Munster
Spokesperson onPublic Expenditure and Reform	Mairéad Farrell

Election results

See also:Sinn Féin election resultsandSinn Féin Westminster election results

Northern Ireland

Devolved legislature elections

Election	Leader	Seats won	±	Position	First preference votes	%	Government	Body
1921	Éamon de Valera	6 / 52	6	2nd	104,917	20.5%	Abstention	House of Commons
1982	Ruairí Ó Brádaigh	5 / 78	5	5th	64,191	10.1%	Abstention	Assembly
1996	Gerry Adams	17 / 110	17	4th	116,377	15.5%	Abstention	Forum
1998		18 / 108	18	4th	142,858	17.7%	Power-sharing(UUP-SDLP-DUP-SF)	Assembly
2003		24 / 108	6	3rd	162,758	23.5%	Direct rule
2007		28 / 108	4	2nd	180,573	26.2%	Power-sharing(DUP-SF-SDLP-UUP-AP)
2011		29 / 108	1	2nd	178,224	26.3%	Power-sharing(DUP-SF-UUP-SDLP-AP)
2016		28 / 108	1	2nd	166,785	24.0%	Power-sharing(DUP-SF-ind.)
2017		27 / 90	1	2nd	224,245	27.9%	Power-sharing(DUP-SF-UUP-SDLP-AP)
2022	Mary Lou McDonald	27 / 90	0	1st	250,388	29%	Power-sharing(SF-DUP-UUP-AP)

Westminster elections

Election	Leader	Seats (in NI)	±	Position	Total votes	% (of NI)	% (of UK)	Government
1924	Éamon de Valera	0 / 13		None	34,181		0.2%	No seats
1950	Margaret Buckley	0 / 12		None	23,362		0.1%	No seats
1955	Paddy McLogan	2 / 12	2	4th	152,310		0.6%	Abstention
1959		0 / 12	2	None	63,415		0.2%	No seats
1983	Ruairí Ó Brádaigh	1 / 17	1	8th	102,701	13.4%	0.3%	Abstention
1987	Gerry Adams	1 / 17		6th	83,389	11.4%	0.3%	Abstention
1992		0 / 17	1	None	78,291	10.0%	0.2%	No seats
1997		2 / 18	2	8th	126,921	16.1%	0.4%	Abstention
2001		4 / 18	2	6th	175,933	21.7%	0.7%	Abstention
2005		5 / 18	1	6th	174,530	24.3%	0.6%	Abstention
2010		5 / 18		6th	171,942	25.5%	0.6%	Abstention
2015		4 / 18	1	6th	176,232	24.5%	0.6%	Abstention
2017		7 / 18	3	6th	238,915	29.4%	0.7%	Abstention
2019	Mary Lou McDonald	7 / 18		6th	181,853	22.8%	0.6%	Abstention
2024		7 / 18		5th	210,891	27.0%	0.7%	Abstention

Trends

Sinn Féin returned to Northern Ireland elections at the1982 Assembly elections,winning five seats with 64,191 votes (10.1%). The party narrowly missed winning additional seats inBelfast NorthandFermanagh and South Tyrone.In the 1983 UK general election eight months later, Sinn Féin increased its support, breaking the six-figure vote barrier in Northern Ireland for the first time by polling 102,701 votes (13.4%).Gerry Adams won the Belfast West constituency, and Danny Morrison fell only 78 votes short of victory inMid Ulster.

The1984 European electionsproved to be a disappointment, with Sinn Féin's candidate Danny Morrison polling 91,476 (13.3%) and falling well behind the SDLP candidateJohn Hume.

By the beginning of 1985, Sinn Féin had won its first representation on local councils, owing to three by-election wins in Omagh (Seamus Kerr, May 1983) and Belfast (Alex Maskey in June 1983 andSean McKnight in March 1984). Three sitting councillors also defected to Sinn Féin in Dungannon, Fermanagh and Derry (the last defecting from the SDLP).Sinn Féin succeeded in winning 59 seats in the1985 local government elections,after it had predicted winning only 40 seats. However, the results continued to show a decline from the peak of 1983, as the party won 75,686 votes (11.8%).The party failed to gain any seats in the1986 by-electionscaused by the resignation of unionist MPs in protest at theAnglo-Irish Agreement.While this was partly due to an electoral pact between unionist candidates, the SF vote fell in the four constituencies they contested.

In the1987 general election,Gerry Adams held his Belfast West seat, but the party failed to make breakthroughs elsewhere and overall polled 83,389 votes (11.4%).The same year saw the party contest the Dáil election in the Republic of Ireland; however, it failed to win any seats and polled less than 2%.

The1989 local government electionssaw a drop in support for Sinn Féin.Defending 58 seats (the 59 won in 1985, plus two 1987 by-election gains in West Belfast, minus three councillors who had defected to Republican Sinn Féin in 1986), the party lost 15 seats. In the aftermath of the election, Mitchell McLaughlin admitted that recent IRA activity had affected the Sinn Féin vote.

In the1989 European election,Danny Morrison again failed to win a seat, polling at 48,914 votes (9%).

The nadir for SF in this period came in 1992, with Gerry Adams losing his Belfast West seat to the SDLP, and the SF vote falling in the other constituencies that they had contested relative to 1987.

In the1997 UK general election,Adams regained Belfast West.Martin McGuinnessalso won a seat inMid Ulster.In theIrish general election the same yearthe party won its first seat since1957,withCaoimhghín Ó Caoláingaining a seat in theCavan–Monaghanconstituency. In theIrish local elections of 1999the party increased its number of councillors from 7 to 23.

The party overtook its nationalist rival, the Social Democratic and Labour Party, as the largest nationalist party in thelocal electionsandUK general electionof 2001, winning four Westminster seats to the SDLP's three.The party continues to subscribe, however, to anabstentionistpolicy towards the Westminster British parliament, on account of opposing that parliament's jurisdiction in Northern Ireland, as well as its oath to the King.

Results in Northern Ireland from UK general elections. Sinn Féin increased its number of seats from two in 1997 to five in 2005, four of them in the west. It retained its five seats in 2010, was reduced to four in 2015 before increasing to seven in 2017.

Sinn Féin increased its share of the nationalist vote in the2003,2007,and2011 Assembly elections,withMartin McGuinness,former Minister for Education, taking the post ofdeputy First Ministerin the Northern Ireland power-sharing Executive Committee. The party has three ministers in the Executive.

In the2010 general election,the party retained its five seats,and for the first time topped the poll at a Westminster election in Northern Ireland, winning 25.5% of the vote.All Sinn Féin MPs increased their share of the vote and with the exception ofFermanagh and South Tyrone,increased their majorities.In Fermanagh and South Tyrone,Unionistparties agreed a joint candidate,this resulted in the closest contest of the election, with Sinn Féin MPMichelle Gildernewholding her seat by 4 votes after 3 recounts and an election petition challenging the result.

Sinn Féin lost some ground in the2016 Assembly election,dropping one seat to finish with 28, ten behind the DUP.In thesnap electioneight months later caused by the resignation of McGuinness as deputy First Minister, however, the party surged, winning 27.9% of the popular vote to 28.1% for the DUP, and 27 seats to the DUP's 28 in an Assembly reduced by 18 seats.The withdrawal of the DUP party whip fromJim Wellsin May 2018 meant that Sinn Féin became the joint-largest party in the Assembly alongside the DUP, with 27 seats each.

Republic of Ireland

Dáil Éireann elections

Election	Leader	1st pref. votes	%	Pos.	Seats	±	Government
1918 (Westminster)	Éamon de Valera	476,087	46.9	#1	73 / 105	73	Declaration of Irish Republic
1921 (HoC S. Ireland)					124 / 128 (elected unopposed)	51
1922	Michael Collins (Pro-Treaty)	239,195	38.5	#1	58 / 128		Minority
	Éamon de Valera (Anti-Treaty)	135,310	21.8	#2	36 / 128		Abstention
1923	Éamon de Valera	288,794	27.4	#2	44 / 153	8	Abstention
Jun 1927	John J. O'Kelly	41,401	3.6	#6	5 / 153	39	Abstention
1954	Tomás Ó Dubhghaill	1,990	0.1	#6	0 / 147		Extra-parliamentary
1957	Paddy McLogan	65,640	5.3	#4	4 / 147	4	Abstention
1961		36,396	3.1	#4	0 / 144	4	Extra-parliamentary
Feb 1982	Ruairí Ó Brádaigh	16,894	1.0	#5	0 / 166		Extra-parliamentary
1987	Gerry Adams	32,933	1.9	#6	0 / 166		Extra-parliamentary
1989		20,003	1.2	#6	0 / 166		Extra-parliamentary
1992		27,809	1.6	#7	0 / 166		Extra-parliamentary
1997		45,614	2.5	#7	1 / 166	1	Opposition
2002		121,020	6.5	#4	5 / 166	4	Opposition
2007		143,410	6.9	#4	4 / 166	1	Opposition
2011		220,661	9.9	#4	14 / 166	10	Opposition
2016		295,319	13.8	#3	23 / 158	9	Opposition
2020	Mary Lou McDonald	535,595	24.5	#1	37 / 160	14	Opposition

The party had five TDs elected in the2002 Irish general election,an increase of four from the previous election. At thegeneral election in 2007the party had expectations of substantial gains,with poll predictions that they would gain fiveto ten seats.However, the party lost one of its seats toFine Gael.Seán Crowe,who had topped the poll inDublin South-Westfell to fifth place, with his first preference vote reduced from 20.28% to 12.16%.

On 26 November 2010,Pearse Dohertywon a seat in theDonegal South-West by-election.It was the party's first by-election victory in theRepublic of Irelandsince 1925.After negotiations with the left-wing Independent TDsFinian McGrathandMaureen O'Sullivan,aTechnical Groupwas formed in the Dáil to give its members more speaking time.

In the2011 Irish general electionthe party made significant gains. All its sitting TDs were returned, with Seán Crowe regaining the seat he had lost in 2007 in Dublin South-West. In addition to winning long-targeted seats such asDublin CentralandDublin North-West,the party gained unexpected seats inCork EastandSligo–North Leitrim.It ultimately won 14 seats, the best performance at the time for the party's current incarnation. The party went on to win three seats in the Seanad election which followed their success at the general election.In the2016 electionit made further gains, finishing with 23 seats and overtaking the Labour Party as the third-largest party in the DáilIt ran seven candidates in the Seanad election, all of whom were successful.

The party achieved their greatest contemporary result in the2020 Irish general election,topping the first-preference votes with 24.5% and winning 37 seats. Due to poor results in the 2019 local elections and elections to the European Parliament, the party ran only 42 candidates and did not compete inCork North-West.The party achieved unexpected success in the early counting, with 27 candidates being elected on the first count.Party leader Mary Lou McDonald called the result a "revolution" and announced she would pursue the formation of a government including Sinn Féin.Ultimately negotiations to form a new government led to Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and theGreen Partyagreeing to enter a majoritycoalition governmentin June. Sinn Féin pledged to be a strong opposition to the new coalition.

Presidential elections

Election	Candidate	1st pref. votes	%	+/–	Position
2011	Martin McGuinness	243,030	13.7%	—	#3
2018	Liadh Ní Riada	93,987	6.4%	7.3	#4

Local government elections

Election	Country	First pref. vote	Vote %	Seats
1920	Ireland	–	27.0%	–
1974	Republic of Ireland	–	–	7 / 802
1979	Republic of Ireland	–	–	11 / 798
1985	Northern Ireland	75,686	11.8%	59 / 565
1985	Republic of Ireland	46,391	3.3%	–
1989	Northern Ireland	69,032	11.2%	43 / 565
1991	Republic of Ireland	29,054	2.1%	8 / 883
1993	Northern Ireland	77,600	12.0%	51 / 582
1997	Northern Ireland	106,934	17.0%	74 / 575
1999	Republic of Ireland	49,192	3.5%	21 / 883
2001	Northern Ireland	163,269	21.0%	108 / 582
2004	Republic of Ireland	146,391	8.0%	54 / 883
2005	Northern Ireland	163,205	23.2%	126 / 582
2009	Republic of Ireland	138,405	7.4%	54 / 883
2011	Northern Ireland	163,712	24.8%	138 / 583
2014	Northern Ireland	151,137	24.1%	105 / 462
2014	Republic of Ireland	258,650	15.2%	159 / 949
2019	Northern Ireland	157,448	23.2%	105 / 462
2019	Republic of Ireland	164,637	9.5%	81 / 949
2023	Northern Ireland	230,793	30.9%	144 / 462
2024	Republic of Ireland	218,620	11.8%	102 / 949

Sinn Féin is represented on most county and city councils. It made large gains in thelocal elections of 2004,increasing its number of councillors from 21 to 54, and replacing theProgressive Democratsas the fourth-largest party in local government.At thelocal elections of June 2009,the party's vote fell by 0.95% to 7.34%, with no change in the number of seats. Losses in Dublin and urban areas were balanced by gains in areas such as Limerick, Wicklow, Cork, Tipperary and Kilkenny and the border counties.However, three of Sinn Féin's seven representatives onDublin City Councilresigned within six months of the June 2009 elections, one of them defecting to theLabour Party.

European elections

Election	Country	Leader	1st pref. votes	%	Seats	+/−	EP group
1984	Northern Ireland	Danny Morrison	91,476	13.35% (#4)	0 / 3	New	−
	Republic of Ireland	Gerry Adams	54,672	4.88% (#4)	0 / 15	New
1989	Northern Ireland	Danny Morrison	48,914	9.15% (#4)	0 / 3	0
	Republic of Ireland	Gerry Adams	35,923	2.20% (#8)	0 / 15	0
1994	Northern Ireland	Tom Hartley	55,215	9.86% (#4)	0 / 3	0
	Republic of Ireland	Gerry Adams	33,823	2.97% (#7)	0 / 15	0
1999	Northern Ireland	Mitchel McLaughlin	117,643	17.33% (#4)	0 / 3	0
	Republic of Ireland	Gerry Adams	88,165	6.33% (#5)	0 / 15	0
2004	Northern Ireland	Bairbre de Brún	144,541	26.31% (#2)	1 / 3	1	GUE/NGL
	Republic of Ireland	Gerry Adams	197,715	11.10% (#3)	1 / 13	1
2009	Northern Ireland	Bairbre de Brún	126,184	25.81% (#1)	1 / 3	0
	Republic of Ireland	Gerry Adams	205,613	11.24% (#5)	0 / 12	1
2014	Northern Ireland	Martina Anderson	159,813	25.52% (#1)	1 / 3	0
	Republic of Ireland	Gerry Adams	323,300	19.52% (#3)	3 / 11	3
2019	Northern Ireland	Martina Anderson	126,951	22.17% (#1)	1 / 3	0	The Left
	Republic of Ireland	Mary Lou McDonald	196,001	11.68% (#3)	1 / 13	2
2024	Republic of Ireland		194,403	11.14% (#3)	2 / 14	1

In the2004 European Parliament election,Bairbre de Brúnwon Sinn Féin's first seat in the European Parliament, at the expense of the SDLP. She came in second behindJim Allisterof the DUP.In the2009 election,de Brún was re-elected with 126,184 first preference votes, the only candidate to reach the quota on the first count. This was the first time since elections began in 1979 that the DUP failed to take the first seat, and was the first occasion Sinn Féin topped a poll in any Northern Ireland election.

Sinn Féin made a breakthrough in theDublin constituencyin2004.The party's candidate,Mary Lou McDonald,was elected on the sixth count as one of four MEPs for Dublin.In the2009 election,when Dublin's representation was reduced to three MEPs, she failed to hold her seat.In the South constituency their candidate, CouncillorToiréasa Ferris,managed to nearly double the number of first preference votes,lying third after the first count, but failed to get enough transfers to win a seat. In the2014 election,Martina Andersontopped the poll inNorthern Ireland,as didLynn BoylaninDublin.Liadh Ní Riadawas elected in theSouthconstituency, andMatt CarthyinMidlands–North-West.In the2019 election,Carthy was re-elected, but Boylan and Ní Riada lost their seats. Anderson also held her Northern Ireland seat until early 2020 when her term was cut short byBrexit.

See also

• Friends of Sinn Féin(an international organisation designed to support Sinn Féin's cause, with members in Great Britain, the United States, Canada, and Australia)
• List of current Sinn Féin elected representatives
• List of political parties in Northern Ireland
• List of political parties in the Republic of Ireland
• List of Sinn Féin MPs(for members elected to the British Parliament)

General and cited sources

• Adams, Gerry(1996).Before the Dawn.Brandon Book.ISBN978-0-434-00341-9.
• Bean, Kevin (15 February 2008).The New Politics of Sinn Fein.Oxford University Press.ISBN978-1-78138-780-1.Archivedfrom the original on 29 May 2016.Retrieved29 January2016.
• Bourne, Angela K. (26 July 2018).Democratic Dilemmas: Why democracies ban political parties.Routledge.ISBN9781138898011.
• Anderson, Brendan (2002).Joe Cahill: A Life in the IRA.Dublin:O'Brien Press.ISBN978-0-86278-674-8.
• Bell, J Bowyer(1997).The Secret Army: The IRA(3rd ed.). Dublin:Poolbeg Press.ISBN978-1-85371-813-7.
• Bew, Paul;Gillespie, Gordon (1993).Northern Ireland: A Chronology of the Troubles 1968–1993.Dublin:Gill & Macmillan.ISBN978-0-7171-2081-9.
• Coogan, Tim Pat(2000).The I.R.A.London:HarperCollins.ISBN978-0-00-653155-5.
• Culloty, Eileen;Suiter, Jane(2018)."Journalism Norms and the Absence of Media Populism in the Irish General Election 2016".In Susana Salgado (ed.).Mediated Campaigns and Populism in Europe.Springer.ISBN978-3-319-98563-3.Archivedfrom the original on 8 July 2020.Retrieved22 April2020.
• Ellis, Peter Berresford(2004).Eyewitness to Irish History.Canada: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.ISBN978-0-471-26633-4.
• Feeney, Brian (2002).Sinn Féin: A Hundred Turbulent Years.Dublin:O'Brien Press.ISBN978-1-85371-813-7.
• Ferriter, Diarmaid(2005).The Transformation of Ireland 1900–2000.London:Profile Books.ISBN978-1-86197-443-3.
• Flackes, W.D.;Elliott, Sydney (1994). "Provisional Sinn Féin".Northern Ireland: A Political Directory 1968–1993.Belfast:Blackstaff Press.ISBN9780717139927.
• Frampton, Martyn (2009).The Long March: The Political Strategy of Sinn Féin, 1981–2007.Palgrave Macmillan.ISBN978-0-230-20217-7.
• Gallagher, Michael(1985).Political Parties in the Republic of Ireland.Manchester University Press.ISBN978-0-7190-1797-1.
• Gallagher, Michael;Marsh, Michael (18 October 2011).How Ireland Voted 2011: The Full Story of Ireland's Earthquake Election.Springer.ISBN978-0-230-35400-5.Archivedfrom the original on 5 March 2017.Retrieved4 March2017.
• Gallagher, Michael;Marsh, Michael (27 October 2016).How Ireland Voted 2016: The Election that Nobody Won.Springer.ISBN978-3-319-40889-7.Archivedfrom the original on 5 March 2017.Retrieved4 March2017.
• Griffith, Arthur(1904).The Resurrection of Hungary: A Parallel for Ireland.Dublin: James Duffy & Co., M.H. Gill & Son, Sealy, Bryers & Walker.(1st editionat theInternet Archive,3rd editionat theInternet Archive)
• Hanley, Brian; Millar, Scott (2009).The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and the Workers' Party.Dublin: Penguin Ireland.ISBN978-1-84488-120-8.
• Kee, Robert(2005).Ireland: A History(Revised ed.). London:Abacus.ISBN978-0-349-11676-1.
• Laffan, Michael (1999).The Resurrection of Ireland: The Sinn Féin Party 1916–1923.Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0521650731.
• Mac Donncha, Mícheál,ed. (2005).Sinn Féin: A Century of Struggle(in Irish and English). Dublin: Republican Books.ISBN978-0-9542946-2-5.
• Mac Stíofáin, Seán(1975).Revolutionary in Ireland.London: Gordon Cremonesi.ISBN0-86033-031-1.
• Maillot, Agnès (2005).New Sinn Féin: Irish republicanism in the twenty-first century.Routledge.ISBN0-415-32197-2.
• Murray, Gerard;Tonge, Jonathan(2005).Sinn Féin and the SDLP: From Alienation to Participation.Dublin:O'Brien Press.p. 153.ISBN978-0-86278-918-3.
• O'Brien, Brendan(1 August 1995).The Long War: The IRA and Sinn Féin, Second Edition.Syracuse University Press.ISBN978-0-8156-0597-3.
• O'Brien, Brendan(2019).A Short History of the IRA: From 1916 Onwards.The O'Brien Press.ISBN9781788491167.Archivedfrom the original on 5 January 2022.Retrieved4 January2022.
• Patterson, Henry (2006).Ireland Since 1939.Dublin: Penguin Ireland.
• Rafter, Kevin(2005).Sinn Féin, 1905–2005: In the Shadow of Gunmen.Dublin:Gill & Macmillan.ISBN9780717139927.
• Taylor, Peter(1997).Provos The IRA & Sinn Féin.Bloomsbury Publishing.ISBN978-0-7475-3818-9.
• Sanders, Andrew (2011).Inside the IRA: Dissident Republicans and the War for Legitimacy.Edinburgh University Press.ISBN978-0748641123.Archivedfrom the original on 4 January 2022.Retrieved4 January2022.
• Sinnott, Richard (1995).Irish voters decide: voting behaviour in elections and referendums since 1918.Manchester University Press.ISBN978-0-7190-4037-5.
• Suiter, Jane(2016)."Ireland: The Rise of Populism on the Left and among Independents".In Toril Aalberg; Frank Esser; Carsten Reinemann; Jesper Stromback; Claes De Vreese (eds.).Populist Political Communication in Europe.Routledge.ISBN978-1-317-22474-7.Archivedfrom the original on 9 May 2022.Retrieved21 April2020.
• White, Robert W. (2006).Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, the Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary.Indiana University Press.ISBN978-0-253-34708-4.
• White, Robert (2017).Out of the Ashes: An Oral History of the Provisional Irish Republican Movement.Merrion Press.ISBN978-1-78537-093-9.

Further reading

• Coogan, Tim Pat(1995–1996).The Troubles.Arrow.ISBN978-0-09-946571-3.
• Coogan, Tim Pat(1990).Michael Collins.Hutchinson.ISBN978-0-09-174106-8.
• Foster, Roy(27 October 1988).Ireland 1660–1972.Allen Lane.ISBN978-0713990102.
• Kee, Robert(1972–2000).The Green Flag: A History of Irish Nationalism.Penguin.ISBN978-0-14-029165-0.
• Kennedy, Geraldine(2002).Nealon's Guide to the 29th Dáil and Seanad.Gill and Macmillan.ISBN978-0-7171-3288-1..
• Lyons, F. S. L.(1971).Ireland Since the Famine.London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.ISBN0297002236.
• Maye, Brian.Arthur Griffith.Griffith College Publications.
• Macardle, Dorothy(1968).The Irish Republic.Corgi.ISBN978-0-552-07862-7.
• O'Callaghan, Sean(1999).The Informer.Corgi.ISBN978-0-552-14607-4.
• O'Hegarty, Patrick Sarsfield(introduction byTom Garvin),The Victory of Sinn Féin: How It Won It & How It Used It(1999)ISBN978-1-900621-17-5
• Taylor, Peter(1999).Behind the Mask: The IRA & Sinn Féin.TV Books.ISBN978-1-57500-077-0.

External links

• Official website
• Sinn Féin delegation to the GUE/NGL group in the European Parliament in Brussels website
• Sinn Féin categoryinThe Guardian