DUNDALK: A hero too many in Belfast, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams is hoping to be elected to Ireland's parliament Friday but his campaign has been thrown off course by claims about his links to the IRA.
"Don't vote for disappearance, murder, extortion, criminality," said a placard held up at the launch of Sinn Fein's campaign last weekend in the county of Louth, north of Dublin, ahead of Friday's election.
The woman holding the placard was Helen McKendry, whose mother Jean McConville was murdered in 1972 by the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the paramilitary group that fought British rule in Northern Irland.
McKendry has accused Adams of leading the IRA and ordering the assassination of her mother, who was alleged to have been a British army informer.
She is outraged that he is contesting Ireland's elections here, of all places, telling local reporters: "Gerry Adams is dancing on my mother's grave."
Adams is president of the republican socialist Sinn Fein, the second largest party in Northern Ireland, and is a popular figure in the British-ruled province because of the role he played in the peace process there.
It has been a different story across the border in the Republic of Ireland, where Sinn Fein has only five lawmakers in the Dail (parliament) out of a total of 166, and plays only a marginal role.
But the party has enjoyed a boost amid the resurgence of nationalism by the bailout of Ireland's economy last year, which is viewed by many voters as an affront to the country's sovereignty.
According to the polls, Sinn Fein could win 11 seats in Friday's election, and Adams hopes to take one of them.
Criss-crossing the country in recent weeks, Adams has pushed a left-wing agenda which includes rejecting the EU-IMF bailout other parties simply want to amend the deal and pledging to "burn the bondholders" of Ireland's banks, to let them pay for the debts rather than Irish taxpayers.
"People are disgusted. There's a lot of anger," Adams said as he knocked on doors in Murheavnamore, a social housing estate on the outskirts of Dundalk.
Law maker Arthur Morgan, who is stepping down at the election and hopes Adam, will succeed him.
This means the Sinn Fein leader should have no troubled being elected here but nationwide the party is faltering. After registering 16 percent of support in polls in December, Sinn Fein is now polling at just 11 percent nationwide.
Adams has a lot riding on this campaign, having given up his seats in the British parliament and the Northern Ireland assembly to stand in Friday's election. If he loses, he will no longer hold elected office.
"We take nothing for granted. Either I get elected or I don't," he said.
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