Gerry Adams is not slow to appear at public events, particularly when given an opportunity to push the No vote.
But yesterday, Sinn Féin defended the non-appearance of its party president at a civic reception in his and his party’s honour in advance of the Sinn Féin Ardfheis in Killarney.
A statement from the party said: “It was stated to the Mayor [Sean Counihan] a number of months ago that there was the possibility of Deputy Adams attending, but it was clear for the past two weeks that he would not. DJ O’Driscoll, who is managing our ardfheis, tried to make contact with Mayor Counihan over the weekend, out of courtesy, to let him know who would be in attendance, but was unable to do so.”
The party said 2,000 people would be coming to Killarney this weekend “for our ardfheis and we thank Killarney Town Council for the hospitality shown to us yesterday”. Town clerk Michael O’Leary said the request for the event had come from Sinn Féin because of the ardfheis and the expectation had been Mr Adams would attend.