Republican SINN FÉIN Poblachtach

has direct and unbroken continuity with the original Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905.

In 1969 following the reformist / revolutionary split in the organisation Sinn Féin re-organised as Provisional Sinn Féin and in doing so upheld the Revolutionary Republican Constitution loyal to the All Ireland Republic Proclaimed in 1916.

In 1986 Provisional Sinn Féin under the new leadership of Gerry Adams & Martin McGuinness manipulated members and supporters to take seats in the British imposed counter-revolutionary parliament Leinster House in the 26 counties.

This decision caused a split in the Republican Movement and in (Provisional) Sinn Féin resulting in a walk-out at the 1986 Ard Fheis.

Revolutionary Republicans re-organised once again out of that walkout.

Of the 20 leading members who re-organised as Provisional Sinn Féin in 1969.  10 were still active in 1986.  Out of that 10, 9 helped in the re-organization of Republican SINN FÉIN Poblachtach.

Entering Leinster House as predicted led to a larger erosion of Republican principles, to the acceptance of entering Stormont and an acceptance of British Partition.

Today Provisional Sinn Féin implement British rule in the occupied six counties of North East Ireland, they have completely abandoned all Irish Republican principles.

We continue to uphold the right of the Irish people to oppose the British occupation of Ireland using any level of controlled and discipline force.

Never will we accept foreign rule over the historic Irish nation.

As a result we are dealing with state sponsored censorship and are continually demonized in an overwhelmingly pro-British/EU media.

Despite this a committed membership has seen our organization thrive in areas where the Republican message has been presented to the people.

OUR ORGANISATION

At a national level we are organised throughout the Four Provinces of Ireland with Cumann and members established in the majority of counties.

We also have an international network with Cumainn established in England & Scotland.  We have supporters across North America, Australia and throughout the European Continent.

Our head office/shop is “Teach Dáithí Ó Conaill” located in Dublin City Center.  223 Sráid Pharnell, BÁC 1.

We also have an office/shop located on the Falls Road in Belfast.  This is named “Teach Ó’Brádaigh, McCarry, O’Neill” after the prominent Republican’s, all now deceased, who helped found the office.

We contribute and our members distribute the monthly newspaper published by the Republican Movement called SAOIRSE – Irish Freedom.  Saoirse is available from local members or via postal subscription.

Sinn Féin is barred from contesting local government elections in the Occupied Six Counties because of the “political test oath” imposed by Margaret Thatchers British government in 1989.

Sinn Féin does contest local elections in the 26 Counties and has witnessed electoral success in numerous areas.

OUR PRINCIPLES

Sinn Féin believes that the historic Irish nation is a distinct, coherent unit and is entitled to exercise its own independence.

Because of the history of our own country we identify with national liberation struggles around the world.

We believe, in the words of one of the 18-Century founders of Irish Republicanism, Wolfe Tone, in the urgent need to “break the connection with England, the never-failing source of all our political evils”.

We stand for the complete overthrow of British rule in Ireland and for a withdrawal from the emerging imperial super-power, the European Union.

ABSTENTIONISM

Sinn Féin is abstentionist.  We do not take seats if elected to Stormont or Leinster House.  Instead we lend our support to the de-facto Dáil Éireann.

We do not recognize the legitimacy of these parliaments in Ireland, both of which were created by acts of the British parliament in Westminster as a denial of the wishes of the Irish people.

Therefore, we do not give voluntary recognition to either jurisdiction.

THE EUROPEAN UNION

We recognise the danger of the growing European Union becoming a world superpower in its own right.

As it grows stronger it will assert itself and become involved in what Jack Deleors described as the “resource wars” of the 21st Century. We do not believe that Ireland, with its history of being a colonial possession, should involve itself in the oppression of other nations that the growing EU will eventually mean.

There is also the danger that, instead of finally winning its freedom and independence, Ireland will find itself swapping British domination for European domination.

We have opposed full membership of the EU from the outset as a highly centralised political and economic power-bloc where decisions about our lives are taken in completely undemocratic institutions.

Our struggle has been to manage our own affairs and our programme is for maximum power at the base. That is real democracy and the very opposite of EU imperialism.

Under the EU our resources for example, marine resources, fish etc… are being taken.

The EU bureaucrats are doing well on their large salaries and so are the big farmers.  But the plan is to wipe out the small farmers and restructure industry so that the EU center can prosper at our expense.

In agriculture far from the promised guaranteed level, milk, cattle and sheep prices are down.

New standards for milk collection are being brought in to force the small farmer out.

We can expect these processes to increase further.

Irish neutrality is under sustained threat as the agenda for an EU Army gains traction.

Irish sovereignty is seen as a thing of the past by the Yes men in Leinster House as they give away control over national security, defense, migration, economy etc….

INTERNATIONALISM

We have a sense that we all have a common identity as human beings, as members of the great family of peoples.

We wish to play our role in this wider world community on the basis of equality and respect for the rights of others.

In particular, we would wish to eliminate the kinds of international trade and international debt that impoverish the peoples of the Third World.

We advocate neutrality in respect to military alliances and power blocs and we feel a sense of solidarity with all peoples who are struggling for freedom and justice.

We believe in the establishment of a reign of social justice based on Irish Republican Socialist principles in accordance with the Democratic Programme and the 1916 Proclamation.

THE NEED FOR JUSTICE

We campaign for a just settlement to the conflict in Ireland.

It is our belief that a key ingredient missing from the Stormont Agreement is justice for all the Irish people.

The “solution”, so-called, leaves the people in the 26 Counties stranded in a neo-colonial State, which by nature is heavily centralised, with a political system contaminated beyond repair by an ethos of cronyism.

In the Six Counties a new assembly is being set up; a successor to the old Stormont parliament which was overthrown by the peoples struggle in 1972.  The added prop to the new British assembly, which was missing from the old parliament, is the active participation of nationalist parties.

This agreement, if it runs its course, promises many more decades of working class alienation and institutionalisd sectarianism. The sooner it falls, the better.

THE STRUGGLE ON ALL FRONTS

We stand for the complete separation of Church and State.

We believe in the central importance of the Irish language to the Irish identity.

In these and in other matters, Sinn Féin will not hesitate to take issues into the streets or wherever may be necessary to ensure the interests of the people they serve.

ÉIRE NUA, D’AOIS NUA

Republican Sinn Féin’s proposal for a just settlement in Ireland is ÉIRE NUA (New Ireland) – A four province federal Ireland, with a self-governing parliament in each of the four provinces: the nine-county Ulster, Connacht, Munster and Leinster. Each of these parliaments would deal with the governing of their province as part of the objective of the creation of an Ireland of self-governing communities in which people will control their own affairs.

This involves the total re-structuring of local government in this island, not only in administration but also in the nature and functions of local authorities themselves. This re-structuring would be on four levels in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity of function:

VOLUNTARY COMMUNITY COUNCILS;

for every 1,500-6,000 people in urban and rural areas with the right of audience at all District Council meetings.

DISTRICT COUNCILS;

This basic unit of statutory government would serve the needs of communities of 10,000-40,000 (depending on local variations) and would have charge of public services to individuals and families in the sphere of social welfare, education, labour guidance, trading and employment practics, housing, planning permission, agriculture and fishing, small industry development etc.

REGIONAL COUNCILS;

These would concern themselves with (a) public services with a high technological content, eg hospitals, major roads, telcommunications and third level education; (b) collection of local revenue and (c) economic, physical and educational planning.

PROVINCIAL ASSEMBLIES; 

The provincial legislature would allocate funds to the Regional Councils and co-ordinate regional plans.

Each district would have a local government office where the citizens could conduct all their normal business — housing, agricultural, grants and information on the social services — all under one roof in a local town within an hour’s drive of each and every citizen. In this way the citizens, with proper training at school, could do all their own business rather than be “beholden” to politicians. Within a special Gaeltacht Region, there would be a local office (as above) in each Gaeltacht district.

NATIONAL PARLIAMENT OF IRELAND

There would be a National Parliament, which Republican Sinn Féin proposes placing in Athlone — the geographic centre of Ireland. The National Parliament would deal with Foreign Affairs and Defence.

The motive behind the Federal proposal is to be fair to all sections of the country.

The Republican struggle is against the domination of Ireland by the British State. The people who are currently described as Unionist are a part of the Irish nation. Their concerns about domination by Dublin in a unitary State of all Ireland should be listened to, and are in fact shared by the so-called ‘peripheral’ regions in the 26-County area.