Sinn Féin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sinn Féin
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| President | Mary Lou McDonald |
| Vice President | Michelle O'Neill |
| Chairperson | Declan Kearney |
| General Secretary | Ken O'Connell |
| Seanad Leader | Niall Ó Donnghaile |
| Founder | Arthur Griffith |
| Founded |
|
| Headquarters | 44 Parnell Square, Dublin 1, Ireland |
| Newspaper | An Phoblacht |
| Youth wing | Ógra Shinn Féin |
| LGBT wing | Sinn Féin LGBTQ |
| Overseas wing | Friends of Sinn Féin |
| Ideology | Irish republicanism Democratic socialism Left-wing nationalism |
| Political position | Centre-left to left-wing |
| European Parliament group | The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL |
| Dáil Éireann |
36 / 160
|
| Seanad Éireann |
4 / 60
|
| Northern Ireland Assembly |
27 / 90
|
| House of Commons (NI seats) |
7 / 18
(abstentionist) |
| European Parliament (RoI seats) |
1 / 13
|
| Local government in the Republic of Ireland |
80 / 949
|
| Local government in Northern Ireland |
104 / 462
|
Sinn Féin ( shin-_-fayn, English: "[We] Ourselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith. Its members founded the First Dáil and the revolutionary Irish Republic during the Irish War of Independence. The party split in the aftermath of the Irish Civil War, giving rise to the two traditionally dominant parties of Irish politics: Fianna Fáil, and Cumann na nGaedheal (which became Fine Gael). The current Sinn Féin party took shape in 1970 after another split, the other faction eventually becoming the Workers' Party. During the Troubles, Sinn Féin was associated with the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). For most of the conflict, there were broadcasting bans on Sinn Féin in the Irish media and in the British media. Although the party sat on local councils, it had a policy of abstentionism for the British parliament and the Irish parliament Dáil Éireann, standing for election but vowing not to take their seats. When Gerry Adams became party leader in 1983, electoral politics became increasingly important. In 1986 it dropped its abstentionist policy for the Dáil; some members formed Republican Sinn Féin in protest. In the 1990s, Sinn Féin—under the leadership of Adams and Martin McGuinness—was involved in the Northern Ireland peace process. This led to the Good Friday Agreement and created the Northern Ireland Assembly. In 2006 it co-signed the St Andrews Agreement and accepted the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Sinn Féin is the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, having won the largest share of first-preference votes and the most seats in the May 2022 election, the first time an Irish nationalist/republican party has done so. From 2007 to 2022 it was the second-largest party in the Assembly, after the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), and its members served as deputy First Minister in the power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive. In the UK House of Commons, Sinn Féin holds seven of Northern Ireland's seats; there, it continues to abstain from parliament. In Dáil Éireann it is the joint-largest party and is the main opposition, having won the largest share of first-preference votes in the February 2020 election.
The current party president is Mary Lou McDonald, who succeeded Gerry Adams in 2018.
Name
The phrase "Sinn Féin" is Irish for "Ourselves" or "We Ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone" (from "Sinn Féin Amháin", an early-20th-century slogan). The name is an assertion of Irish national sovereignty and self-determination, i.e., the Irish people governing themselves, rather than being part of a political union with Great Britain under the Westminster Parliament.
Images for kids
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Arthur Griffith is credited as the main founder of the party
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The campaign car of Joseph McGuinness, who won the 1917 South Longford by-election whilst imprisoned. He was one of the first Sinn Féin members to be elected. In 1921 he sided with Collins in the Treaty debate.
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Ruairí Ó Brádaigh was the president of Provisional Sinn Féin from 1970 until 1983.
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Bobby Sands mural in Belfast. Sands, a member of the Provisional IRA, stood on an Anti H-Block ticket.
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Under the political leadership of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, Sinn Féin adopted a reformist policy, eventually leading to the Good Friday Agreement.
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Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O'Neill in February 2018
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See also
- In Spanish: Sinn Féin
