Adams on the Future

Editorial / Periscope - Niall O'Dowd

Adams on the Future

October 10, 2007

By NiallO’Dowd

GERRY Adams looks more rested than I have seen him in some time. Often times during the grind of the peace process the Sinn Fein president looked drawn and worn down by the immense responsibilities of trying to forge a settlement to one of the world’s most intractable problems. This week in the coffee shop of his New York hotel he looked relaxed and at ease, reflecting perhaps that the enormous burden of the process has now passed and the future looks brighter in Ireland, north and south, than it ever has before.

Adams is in New York this week to speak at the Friends of Sinn Fein dinner on Wednesday night in Manhattan and also to launch his latest book An Irish Eye, a collection of his writings.

“The peace process was looking for a Unionist leader,” Adams says now, referring to the positive role that Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Ian Paisley has played since the power sharing government was agreed. “Once it found him it all began to fall into place.”

He says his personal relations with Paisley are “respectful” and he finds the DUP leader “very affable” in negotiation. He does not minimize the problems that Paisley faces from a hard-line rump within his own party, or the fact that trouble may lie ahead.

Despite that Adams is finding that they can do business with the DUP in the Northern Assembly. He believes there are enough pragmatists in that party who understand that the bad old days are nothing to yearn for and that the future of the North is in devolved self government.

There is, however, word that the DUP are barely cooperating on cross border bodies. Adams doesn’t think that is surprising. After all, the cross border bodies alone, where Irish men and women from both parts of the island meet to discuss issues without any British government presence, is in itself a dramatic step towards the Adams vision of a united Ireland.

In that respect Fianna Fail’s recent decision to organize in Northern Ireland is another huge step forward, Adams feels, towards an all island politics.

Though Fianna Fail, with its legendary organizational skills, reflects a tough challenge for Sinn Fein he remains positive about the move.

“It moves the political center of gravity towards the island of Ireland. The more all Ireland dimension we have the better,” he says, noting that Fianna Fail, if they create their party in the North, will inevitably be better briefed and aware of Northern issues as a result.

The outworking of the peace process, Adams believes, will bring about such political realignments in the long run. His party will no longer be the only one with an all-Ireland membership.

But how will Sinn Fein fare in future Irish elections after their disappointing showing last time out?

Sinn Fein did well except in Dublin, Adams points out, barely missing at least one extra sets in Donegal where “they hit the crossbar” when two candidates were every narrowly defeated.

He believes voters were undecided up to the last few days and that they voted for their pocketbooks in the end, preferring the party in office which had done a good job in the economy. In that last minute rush to Fianna Fail, he believes his party lost out.

Typically the Sinn Fein response has been to work even harder. They have held a countrywide consultative process, and Adams stated that before Christmas the party will hold a convention to discuss what went wrong and where to go next.

If there is one lesson other parties can take from Sinn Fein it is that they face their failures squarely and will not be outworked seeking to remedy them.

Adams attended the Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York a couple of weeks ago. He says he enjoys the event, learning from world leaders he would normally not meet. In his final remarks observers say former President Bill Clinton singled Adams out for his contribution to peace in Ireland and his efforts to help in other conflicts.

Much of that work is detailed in his book An Irish Eye, which goes on sale this week. Adams has also written some poems in Gaelic for the book, which gives him an enormous sense of pride.

As he approaches his 60th birthday next year Adams can look back on an amazing body of work which has made an enormous difference to the lives of ordinary people in Ireland, north and south. He well deserves all the plaudits from Clinton and others.

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