Gerry Adams steps down as Sinn Féin president

Gerry Adams has announced he is stepping down as president of Sinn Féin after 34 years in charge of the party that was once closely linked to the IRA.

Adams also confirmed that he will not seek re-election to the Irish parliament, the Dáil, in the next general election.

The 69-year-old-republican played a pivotal role in shifting the IRA to a permanent ceasefire in the 1990s and nudging Sinn Féin towards embracing power sharing with its former unionists enemies in Northern Ireland.

He told 1,000 delegates at the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis (annual conference) in Dublin on Saturday night that he and the late Martin McGuinness had recognised the need for a new change in leadership in the party.

“I thought I needed to tell you … I have been privileged to be part of an amazing leadership.

“One of our greatest achievements has been to build a peace process. I will not be standing for the Dáil; neither will Martin Ferris [a former IRA gunrunner and Sinn Féin TD]. This is also my last Ard Fheis,” said Adams. He said he would ask the party’s national executive to agree a date in 2018 to elect the next Sinn Féin president.

In his speech Adams said: “I have always seen myself as a team player and a team builder. I have complete confidence in the leaders we elected this weekend and in the next generation of leaders.”

He continued: “I want to thank everyone who has welcomed me into their homes and communities and who have made me part of countless campaigns, countless elections and countless negotiations.”

Adams added: “Leadership means knowing when it is time for change and that time is now.”

Party delegates elected Adams to stay on as president until 2018. They also agreed to hold a special conference to discuss the new leadership emerging from within Sinn Féin. It will take place within three months of Adams standing down as leader next year.

The former West Belfast MP has been leader of Sinn Féin since 1983. He currently represents the Louth constituency in the Irish Republic and sits in the Dáil.

The clear favourite to succeed Adams is the Dublin TD and Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald.

If chosen as the party president it would mean Sinn Féin would have female leaders on either side of the Irish border. Michelle O’Neill leads Sinn Féin in the currently deadlocked Northern Ireland Assembly.

There has been speculation that Adams would use his semi-retirement to run next year for the presidency of Ireland. Last weekend however he ruled himself out of a contest which proved to be particularly brutal and bruising for Martin McGuinness back in 2011. During the presidential campaign McGuinness faced constant questions about the legacy of IRA violence and his own role in atrocities during the Northern Ireland Troubles.