SINN FÉIN’S Martin McGuinness has rejected speculation that Gerry Adams is to stand in next year’s presidential election and also hinted that the party may not run any candidate.
Mr McGuinness said during a visit to the southeast at the weekend that most of the stories about a Gerry Adams candidacy were “just media inventions” and the Sinn Féin leader had never spoken to him about such a move.
“I don’t believe Gerry Adams has any interest in retiring from front-line politics at this stage,” he told reporters.
“He still has a huge amount to offer as a leader of Sinn Féin and we’ve come through enormous political change in the North, much of which would not have happened without him, and I think we in Sinn Féin would be very determined to keep our party leader involved in front-line politics so at this stage I can’t see Gerry Adams even contemplating running in the presidential elections.”
Sinn Féin hasn’t had any discussion regarding that election, he said.
“To be quite honest at this stage, I think our focus has to be on the economic crisis that people north and south are facing and I think all of our efforts will be bent towards that,” he said.