Sinn Fein is the Irish nationalist party which was founded in 1905 and literally means 'we ourselves' in Gaelic. The founder of the party was Athur Griffith a journalist from Dublin.
The party grew very popular as a result of the Irish Home Rule Association failing to get any substantial reforms from London. In 1918 under the leadership of Eamon de Valera, it won the majority of votes in Southern Ireland. The MP's however, decided not to go to London but to set up an alternative government in Ireland. Towards the end of the twentieth century, particularly after the 1970's, the party came to prominence again as the political arm of the IRA.
Gerry Adams is the leader of Sinn Fein and although Sinn Fein has always insisted that it is a republican organisation it was also keen to stress that they did not bear arms in the same way as the IRA did.
The party grew very popular as a result of the Irish Home Rule Association failing to get any substantial reforms from London. In 1918 under the leadership of Eamon de Valera, it won the majority of votes in Southern Ireland. The MP's however, decided not to go to London but to set up an alternative government in Ireland. Towards the end of the twentieth century, particularly after the 1970's, the party came to prominence again as the political arm of the IRA.
Gerry Adams is the leader of Sinn Fein and although Sinn Fein has always insisted that it is a republican organisation it was also keen to stress that they did not bear arms in the same way as the IRA did.
