The gun-runner and the IRA chief of staff

WHEN the declaration delivering Martin Ferris, a convicted IRA gun-runner, into the Irish parliament finally came, it sent a convulsion of joy throughout his tricolour-waving supporters. The man himself, lost in a sea of green, white and orange, apparently dissolved into tears.

It was an unexpected show of emotion from the republican hardman and Sinn Fein politician in an entirely predictable drama. A similar story of Sinn Fein victory over "establishment" parties - increasing its representation of one in the last Dail five-fold - was played out in counting halls throughout the Republic of Ireland this weekend, with the complicated system of proportional representation under which Irish elections are conducted ensuring the final results dripped out slowly for 48 hours after Friday’s poll.

Despite evidence of IRA collusion in international terrorism in Colombia now overwhelming and claims of republican involvement in a break-in to Special Branch headquarters in Belfast, a climate of electoral amnesia exists in Ireland. The Irish have demonstrated themselves good Europeans by fashionably giving a big vote to an extremist, populist party. Except that Sinn Fein has cloaked itself in the soothing rhetoric of the reasonable.

This remarkable upsurge in Sinn Fein’s popularity in the Republic of Ireland has been possible because the whiff of sulphur that attaches itself to the party in Northern Ireland is absent, or at least more likely to be overlooked. Its veneer of social policies, focusing on crime, poverty and, crucially, the drugs problem, is a siren song to the many thousands in inner-city areas who feel the Celtic Tiger has passed them by.

Sinn Fein trebled its 1997 vote to 6.5 per cent, and its share of the vote is expected to increase further. Some suggest that Bertie Ahern’s reaction - to say Sinn Fein could never be part of government until the IRA disbands - bore the hallmarks of fledgling panic.

In securing its fine result, which included coming top of the poll in three constituencies, Sinn Fein has jolted the culture of cosy consensualism that has made Irish politics a by-word for sleaze. But at what cost?

Mr Ferris served ten years for IRA gun-running and is reputed to be one of the Provisionals’ seven-strong Army Council. Three more Sinn Fein politicians, Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Pat Doherty, who sit at Stormont and are Westminster MPs, are thought to be on the army council.

Together with several of his party workers, Mr Ferris was arrested in the past couple of months in connection with vigilante attacks on alleged drug dealers in the Tralee, County Kerry, area. They were released without charge and Mr Ferris has lodged a complaint about his treatment in custody.

But his two county Gaelic football medals, his 47-day hunger strike in prison in 1977 and decade in jail from 1984 to 1994 for smuggling arms on board the trawler, Marita Ann, have endowed him with a mythic status in local eyes. The whiff of sulphur is no drawback when he is a sporting hero.

To put it all in context, Mr Ferris was ending his jail sentence around the same day Dick Spring, the former Irish foreign minister, was celebrating his achievement in brokering the IRA’s first ceasefire in 1994. Eight years later, as Mr Ferris was elected, Mr Spring was losing his seat in the same North Kerry constituency.

Throughout its general election campaign, Sinn Fein put forward a raft of social policies geared towards giving the disadvantaged a decent education, good medical care, an efficient welfare system and a crime-free environment. It denounced the sleaze in public life that has disfigured Irish politics for decades and took a moderate line on opposing racism and demanding tolerance for asylum seekers.

But Ruth Dudley Edwards, a historian and commentator on Irish political affairs, suggested Sinn Fein’s policy on law and order is to curb the power of the Gardai. She claimed they want to bring the police under community control to ensure the likes of Mr Ferris do not get arrested again, and denounced them as armed, dangerous nationalist socialists.

Its gains this weekend have underlined Sinn Fein’s political game plan. It has made the final transition to "respectability" with seats in the Irish parliament, the Westminster parliament, the Stormont assembly, as well as councils the length and breadth of Ireland.

The one-time political novices are gaining invaluable experience as the Sinn Fein machine becomes progressively more organised. It also threatens to become unstoppable, and the party is already preparing for next year’s assembly elections in Northern Ireland.

Although its tally exceeds the four seats secured by the Progressive Democrats, likely again to form a coalition with Bertie Ahern’s Fianna Fail party, Gerry Adams’s outfit would have eschewed any role in government even if Mr Ahern had wanted them. There is more to gain from being a vocal, Left-wing opposition party. The electorate showed its approval for Mr Ahern, who has presided over an unprecedented economic boom, by bringing his party within reach of an historic overall majority. He has worked his charm in the presidential style of Tony Blair.

Fine Gael, the official opposition, was dealt a devastating blow. After one of the most spectacular electoral meltdowns ever witnessed in the Irish Republic, its leader, Michael Noonan, stood down.

After five years of economic, educational, entertainment and sporting success, the Republic of Ireland is surfing the crest of a confident wave. It judged no other character than Ahern could keep the good times rolling.