The Irish News has some more on the resignation of Strabane Councillor Gerard Foley from Sinn Féin, noted previously. Meanwhile, in Dublin, another Sinn Féin Councillor, Louise Minihan, has resigned from the party. Via Politics.ie, an Indymedia report has the quotes.
Explaining why she has left Sinn Féin Councillor [Louise] Minihan said, “I joined Sinn Féin in 1998, when I was sixteen years of age. At that time I believed that party to be committed to its stated objectives of ending British rule in Ireland and the establishment of an Irish Democratic Socialist Republic. It is clear to me today that this is no longer the case.
“Sinn Féin has, over the course of the last twelve years, moved steadily away from the core values of Irish socialist republicanism and is no longer willing, or able, to challenge the British occupation of the Six Counties or the rotten capitalist system which is causing so much hardship to working families across Ireland today. Sinn Féin is taking the wrong position on a whole range of national, social and economic issues, resulting in that party becoming largely irrelevant to working people.
“For years I voiced my disquiet within Sinn Féin about the direction that party was headed, in the vain hope that radical politics might triumph over reformism. Like thousands of other republicans before me, I have come to the conclusion that the battle for the heart of Sinn Féin is lost. While wishing those many genuine activists who remain within Sinn Féin well in the future, I believe that many of them will sooner or later come to the same conclusion that I now have.”
But Gerry’s on a World Tour for Irish Unity! Is it already too late for that other conversation?
