The End of the Old Brigade
Gerry Adams is stepping down as Sinn Féin president — what legacy will his long leadership leave behind?
Gerry Adams in 1989 alongside longtime ally Martin McGuinness, who died earlier this year. (Credit: Rex)
Gerry Adams announced this week that he will be standing down as president of Sinn Féin, after one of the longest and most influential careers in Irish political history. Growing up in Ballymurphy, a working-class Catholic ghetto in West Belfast, Adams went on to become a senior IRA commander before establishing himself as the public face of Irish republicanism. His departure from Sinn Féin’s leadership is one of the most significant moments in the party’s recent history.
For his supporters, Adams is the man who guided Sinn Féin to unprecedented political success; for disillusioned onetime allies, he is a slippery opportunist who abandoned fundamental principles in the name of expediency. His most vociferous critics in the Irish media will be glad to see the back of Adams, but their relief at his departure will be mixed with awareness that he did more than anyone to bring the IRA to a permanent ceasefire. He leaves Sinn Féin at a moment of uncertainty on both sides of the Irish border, with fundamental questions to answer about its political strategy in the years ahead.
Óglach Adams
If Gerry Adams was a conventional politician, we could date his entry into front-line politics from 1983. That was the year when he was first elected to Westminster as the MP for West Belfast, and replaced Ruairí Ó Brádaigh as the president of Sinn Féin. Thirty-five years would constitute an impressive span for any political career. But Adams had already been a central figure in Irish politics for more than a decade by the time he first held elected office.
Sorry, but this article is available to active subscribers only. Please log in or become a subscriber.