Irish Republican Archives

2nd November 1986 - The Abstentionist Walkout Forty years ago today, the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis at Dublin's Mansion House voted to abandon abstentionism from Leinster House, prompting abstentionist delegates to withdraw in protest. Resolution 162, backed by Gerry Adams, passed by 429 votes to 161, ten above the required two-thirds threshold. It permitted successful candidates to take their seats in Leinster House. For traditional Republicans, abstentionism was no mere electoral tactic. They hold that entering Leinster House contradicts allegiance to the sovereign Republic proclaimed in 1916 and the all-Ireland mandate of 1918. On 22nd October, Tom Maguire, the last surviving member of the Second Dáil, repudiated any IRA Army Council supporting entry into Leinster House, echoing his intervention in 1969. At the Ard Fheis, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh argued that Resolution 162 violated Sinn Féin's fundamental constitutional principles and that the debate itself was out of order. Following the vote, Ó Brádaigh, Dáithí Ó Conaill, Joe O'Neill, Lita Campbell, Billy McKee, Geraldine Taylor, Des Long, Pat and Mary Ward among others walked out. Some 130 reassembled at the West County Hotel, reorganising as Republican Sinn Féin and issuing the Historic Sinn Féin Declaration. The declaration renewed allegiance to the Republic of 1916, upheld the Declaration of Independence of 1919 and rejected recognition of Leinster House, Stormont and Westminster. On 25th July 1987, Maguire formally recognised the Continuity Executive and Continuity Army Council. Abstentionists have also spoken about intimidation and death threats from figures within the revisionist leadership before and after the walkout. Those who walked out maintained that they were continuing historic Sinn Féin and that the Adams faction had departed from its fundamental principles. Forty years later, Republican Sinn Féin still asserts constitutional continuity and abstentionism from all three parliaments that oversee partition. “We walked out with the Republican Movement intact. Those who remained in the Mansion House that day were the dissidents.” -Geraldine Taylor Seasaimid le Poblacht 1916 🇮🇪