Policy and structure

Sinn Féin seeks the unification of the 26 counties of the Republic of Ireland and the six counties of Northern Ireland in a democratic-socialist Irish republic. Beginning in the 1960s, the party advocated British withdrawal from and demilitarization of Northern Ireland and protested the treatment of nationalists in the province by the British government, the British army, and the largely Protestant police force. Throughout its history Sinn Féin supported freedom fighters in other parts of the world, and until the late 1990s it condemned the trend toward European unification. As the political component of the Republican movement became more important, the party developed positions on a number of issues, including women’s rights, the environment, the economy, agriculture, and prisons.

Sinn Féin is represented in all counties of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland and is extremely well-organized at the local level. Its annual conference (Ard Fheis) brings together delegates from all local branches to discuss party policy and to elect officers. The party’s regular business is handled by a central committee (Ard Chomhairle), which meets at least once a month and consists of party officers and nine members selected at the Ard Fheis (one-quarter of the Central Committee’s members must be women). The Central Committee has an eight-member standing committee, known as the Coiste Seasta. Most of Sinn Féin’s supporters are relatively young.