At least a dozen senior Sinn Fein members in Co Louth resi gned and walked out in protest during a meeting in Dundalk last night. Following hard on the re ported IRA resignations, the walkout prompts further speculation of a widening split in the republican movement. It was in protest at Sinn Fein's signing up to the Mit chell Principles of non-violence.
The members who resigned clai med to represent two-thirds of the rank and file and included longtime republican activist and former councillor, Mr Fra Browne.
The protesters claimed the Sinn Fein leadership was ignoring local opinion and said the party's commitment to constitutional means was transforming it into a "northern extension of Fianna Fail".
It is believed there is still broad support in the county for Sinn Fein's peace strategy. It is thought the failure of attempts to resolve the deadlock privately led to the public show of disunity. The defecting members are not expected to join any rival political group and insist there would be no mass exodus to Republican Sinn Fein. ein member who joined last night's walkout said there were varying degrees of dissatisfaction in Sinn Fein branches across Ireland. He insisted the Louth resignations were caused by what he termed the leadership's failure to recognise the mandate of party members and said the walkout was simply a public protest. The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, added that a small number of IRA people had "decided to stand back." But he pointed out that "at no stage in this process could it ever have been said that there would be 100 per cent support all the way through."
????ein in Co Louth were reported to have resigned from the party last night (thurs), it is believed, as part, it is believed, of the internal dispute over the Stormont talks. negotiations. They members are understood to have tendered their resignation at the monthly meeting of the Co Louth Cumann at the Sinn Fein offices in Dundalk. The resignations were announced in anonymous telephone calls to newspaper offices yesterday. However, before the meeting the spokesman for Co Louth Sinn Fein, Mr Malachy Foots, said the party had received no notice of any members' intention to resign. He said there were no significant internal differences and that while the meeting was open to debate there had been no signal beforehand of any dispute.
Senior sources yesterday said the resignations and dissension in the IRA were regarded as "manageable". It was anticipated it would not have a serious impact on the peace process. This opinion was supported by Garda and repu blican sources, who said those who had resigned were longstan ding opponents of the peace proc ess and none had been to the fore of the IRA's campaign of violence.
Senior Government sources have indicated that there is limited concern about a major split in the IRA or a threat to the peace process arising from the resignation of former senior figures from the organisation.
The Taoiseach said in Dublin yesterday that the resignations were a matter of concern, but he did not believe they threatened the peace process. "I am bound to be concerned about any difficulties that could jeopardise the peace process." He added, however: "I certainly do not want to overstate them - I think it would be incorrect to do so. We are talking about a relatively small number of people. People should understand that if we are to have any political progress and to have peace on this island, the armed struggle plays no part in that."
The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, said yesterday the only pressure on the peace process was "the type of planned inertia of the unionist parties and those who have the security agenda within the British establishment". The Ulster Unionist Party's security spokesman, Mr Ken Maginnis, called for the North's security for ces to be put on "high alert". ein, particularly in the north Louth-south Armagh areas.
Sources said Sinn Fein would hold a 40th anniversary commemoration at Edentubber, near the Killeen Border crossing, on Sunday of the deaths of five IRA men in a bomb explosion in 1957.