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Gerry Adams to reveal future plans at November party conference

Gerry Adams said he will announce his 'own future intentions' at the party's November Ard Fheis. Picture by Niall Carson/PA Wire
Gerry Adams said he will announce his 'own future intentions' at the party's November Ard Fheis. Picture by Niall Carson/PA Wire Gerry Adams said he will announce his 'own future intentions' at the party's November Ard Fheis. Picture by Niall Carson/PA Wire

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams will reveal his "own future intentions" at the party's Ard Fheis in November.

The Louth TD, who has led his party since 1983, has previously signalled that he wants to remain in charge of Sinn Féin when it contests the Republic's next general election.

But at a party gathering in Co Meath, the 68-year-old told grassroots members of a 10-year plan that includes an "orderly leadership change".

"I will be allowing my name to go forward for the position of uachtarán Shinn Féin," he said.

"And if elected I will be setting out our priorities and in particular our planned process of generational change, including my own future intentions."

Mr Adams said the strategic plan was "about preparing the party for the next ten years and to ensure that we are better able to achieve our strategic objectives".

The Sinn Féin president has previously spoken of the party's transitional plan but this is the first time he has indicated any sort of timeframe.

Deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald has made no secret of her desire to succeed the former West Belfast MP – a scenario that would give the party female leaders on both sides of the border.

Mr Adams also insisted that Sinn Féin was "fully committed" to the power sharing but again warned that there would be no Stormont assembly or executive without a standalone Irish language act and "agreement on the resolution of other outstanding issues".

"The political institutions can only work if they are based on equality, respect and integrity," he said.

"Last week’s proposal by the DUP leader Arlene Foster for a parallel process is a non-runner, and she knew this, but it did contain a welcome acknowledgement that the Irish language threatens no one."

He urged the DUP to engage in a "short time-framed period of exploratory talks to determine whether progress is possible or not".

On Brexit, Mr Adams said the Dublin government has a responsibility to defend Northern Ireland voters' wish to remain in Europe.

He said the British government's papers on leaving the customs union will cost jobs, and undermine the economies in the Republic and the north.

"It is also time for the Irish government to accept that the best protection for the island of Ireland in any post Brexit arrangement is for the north to be designated special status within the EU," he said.

Mr Adams said a referendum on a united Ireland in the next five years is "achievable and winnable" and should be government policy in the Republic.

But the Sinn Féin leader's remarks on a border poll drew criticism from DUP leader Arlene Foster, who described the idea as "divisive and destabilising".

"A united-Ireland will always be the goal of republicans and nationalists – as a unionist, I will always campaign for Northern Ireland remaining within the union," she said.

The Fermanagh-South Tyrone MLA said support for the union had "never been greater".

"Such support does not just stem from a love for the NHS or the economic stability of the United Kingdom – it is much broader than that," she said.

"The case for the union doesn’t rely upon money – the United Kingdom is not the biggest nation in the world but our language, our music, our literature, our arts and our sporting success projects a power around the globe that pure numbers of people can never do."

Mrs Foster said there was "no evidence of overwhelming support for a united Ireland" and therefore no need for a referendum.