As Sinn Féin held its ardfheis in Belfast last week, there was reporting of rumblings of discontent with the leadership of Mary Lou McDonald. The uneasiness may be overblown given opinion polls suggest Sinn Féin is the most popular Irish political party, but it is no exaggeration to suggest the party is unsure where to place itself.

There is nothing new in that. One of the interesting characters to emerge during the original Sinn Féin ascendancy in 1918 was Fr Michael O’Flanagan from Roscommon. As a Catholic priest, he embraced republican politics with such vigour that his efforts earned him censure from his superiors in the church. But he remained dogged and was elected one of the vice-presidents of Sinn Féin and later chaplain of the First Dáil in 1919.

O’Flanagan was also frank about the danger of ideological wooliness. Sinn Féin triumphed in the December 1918 election, riding the wave of post-1916 sentiment and anger over the British plan to impose military conscription on Ireland. It proved attractive to an expanded and younger electorate and crushed the previously dominant Irish Parliamentary Party. Yet following its victory, O’Flangan reputedly said: “The people have voted Sinn Féin. Now we have to explain to them what Sinn Féin is.”

For all its poll topping in 1918, some Sinn Féin politicians were........

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