Gerry Adams has said he now knows when he will stand aside as leader of Sinn Féin. And the Louth TD revealed yesterday the party has a plan in place for his departure.
Speaking at Sinn Féin’s away day in Co Meath, the party president also hinted he would like to see a woman at the helm of the party’s leadership.
“People within the party are quite entitled to discuss this issue,” he said at the CityNorth Hotel. “I am not precious about it, I have found it a great honour to serve Sinn Féin in any capacity whatsoever and I have absolute confidence in that whole cadre of activists in that blend of experience of youthful energy of being right across the entire island of Ireland, of having women as is right in positions of leadership. So we are going ahead building our party.”
Mr Adams, who has been president of Sinn Féin for more than 33 years, said he decided a “very long time” ago when he would stand aside.
Core values
He also confirmed the party is examining its policy of paying all staff and members the industrial wage.
Mr Adams said the party needed to balance the demands on people and keeping their core values. “We have to deal with demands that are on people in these difficult times. We always saw the need to subsidise our activists but as people have families to rear and do all of the things we all have to do like mortgages and getting kids through college and so on. We have been well-served by the system we have had so far.”
The party is preparing a strategy for the next decade, and Mr Adams confirmed a change of leadership was part of that discussion.
“We are a party in transition, I have made it very, very clear. So it isn’t question of if I will step down, it’s a question of when I step down and we have a plan,” he said. “The problem is, if we tell you, you would tell everyone else.”
