ANALYSIS:Sinn Féin's efforts to expand in the Republic have run into difficulties. Now, it is trying to give itself a more Southern-friendly face, writes Mark Hennessy
SINN FÉIN'S leadership structures are opaque, complicated and require a degree in Kremlinology sometimes to interpret, but significant changes could be on the way.
Dublin MEP Mary Lou McDonald, the party's chairwoman for three years, is to become vice-president in place of Pat Doherty, who is standing down after 21 years, while a group of Southern officials are being given stronger roles, subject, of course, to ratification by the February árdfheis.
The most important change may be McDonald's replacement as party chairwoman by Declan Kearney, who has led the party's reorganisation in the Republic following the disappointing 2007 general elections.
Little known to the public, Kearney is organised, disciplined and strategic, and he played a key role as Sinn Féin battled to keep its constituency onside as it edged towards supporting the PSNI.
Party president Gerry Adams's trust in him was also shown when he was chosen to interview Denis Donaldson, whose outing as a British informer traumatised the party in late 2005. Kearney's new job will bring him more to the foreground, which is not something that he has sought up to now and could presage more public duties - though past talk that he would run for the Assembly came to naught.
McDonald's move to become vice-president is important in symbolic terms, though, in reality, the job of chairwoman never played to her strengths.
This June she faces a major task to hold her European Parliament seat in Dublin, which is to drop from four to three seats. A loss would be a major blow to Sinn Féin's fortunes.
Fianna Fáil could try and deny her a place to go if she does lose by ensuring that the Dublin Central Dáil byelection needed to replace the late Tony Gregory takes place on the same day.
Her actions during the Lisbon referendum have boosted her profile massively; the Lisbon re-run will further increase it. Everything will hinge on whether she can become the dominant anti-Lisbon candidate.
And her fate may well be decided by Fianna Fáil, which is languishing at just 18 per cent in Dublin according to polls. This is not enough to re-elect sitting MEP Eoin Ryan, a prospect that is very possible unless the party gets its act together.
Long-time official Dawn Doyle becomes general secretary in place of Rita O'Hare, who becomes joint party treasurer alongside Limerick-based Maurice Quinlivan - brother of IRA member and Brixton Prison escaper, Nessan.
Gerry Adams rejected the suggestion that Sinn Féin is trying to put a more Southern-friendly face on itself, regarding the question itself as partitionist, but there is little doubt that its lack of Southern heavy-hitters did hurt its 2007 general election.
Then, Adams's knowledge of and feel for politics in the Republic was woefully exposed, while SF's economic policies - which were even by then moving away from the extreme - still left it irrelevant to the debate.
The changes obviously raise questions about Adams's leadership. He insisted yesterday that he has no intention of staying forever, but that he has no desire to stand down now. There is nobody calling for him to go.
The changes going before the party's February árdfheis will settle the internal HR issues in the party for some time to come, and the current political environment obviously offers an Opposition party room to grow.
But the party must craft an agenda that attracts. Sinn Féin TDs have shown a practical attitude to politics and economics in the last 18 months, but the party's more public pronouncements are still vague.
That will have to change.