sinn fein sier jah
Magne Haagen Flatval (mflatval@c2i.net)
Tue, 12 May 1998 17:01:56 +0200
At the end of a month of vital and truly historic debate around
Ireland which culminated in a day-long debate session at the RDS
in Dublin yesterday, Sinn Fein has made two landmark policy
changes with virtually unanimous support.
The decisions were taken at 5pm yesterday at the end of a
remarkable display of party democracy at the party's annual Ard
Fheis conferenece, specially reconvened three weeks after the
original weekend meeting.
Firstly, Sinn Fein changed its constitutional bar on
participation in a northern Six County assembly to bring the
weight of popular nationalist support to bear in an institution
which unionists believed they could dominate.
Secondly, the party backed the leadership's recommendations to
support the ratification of the Good Friday agreement -- which
provides for the assembly and new all-Ireland bodies -- in
referenda to be held May 22 in both parts of Ireland.