Sinn Féin for Justice, Equality and Law Reform Michael McDowell publicly accused three of the Sinn Féin leadership, Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Martin Ferris (TD for Kerry North) of being on the seven-man IRA Army Council; they later denied this. On 27 February 2005, a demonstration against the murder of Robert McCartney on 30 January 2005 was held in east Belfast. Alex Maskey, a former Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Belfast, was told by relatives of McCartney to "hand over the 12" IRA members involved. The McCartney family, although formerly Sinn Féin voters themselves, urged witnesses to the crime to contact
Workers' Party of Ireland Workers' Party of Ireland The Workers' Party (), originally known as Official Sinn Féin, is a Marxist–Leninist political party active throughout Ireland. The party originated with a split between factions of Sinn Féin (which was founded in 1905) and the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which took place in 1969–70, early in the Troubles. The faction that broke away became known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army and Provisional Sinn Féin. The Officials' leaders at the time the Provisionals left were Cathal Goulding and Tomás Mac Giolla. The party name was changed to Sinn Féin - The Workers' Party in 1977