For a brief moment we thought we'd landed in the Fianna Fail rather than the Sinn Fein Ardfheis. That was definitely Bertie Ahern up on the podium rattling on about Europe. But no, on closer inspection the speaker turned out to be Sean Crowe, Sinn Fein's man for Europe in the Dublin constituency.
He may not look like the Taoiseach but he certainly sounded like him. A Bertie sound-alike, what better way to cultivate the Dublin vote? At times this weekend the delegates could have imagined themselves attending a Fianna Fail or Fine Gael ardfheis.
Here was normal politics. And pretty unexciting politics as well. And there were other similarities with mainstream party ardfheiseanna. This Sinn Fein conference in the library of the Royal Dublin Society was very slow to get started. "Would Sinn Fein delegates please come in from the tearooms", those on the rostrum pleaded as they strove to get the ardfheis into motion on Saturday morning. Republicans in the tea rooms was an odd notion for this revolutionary party.
The contrast over 12 months was startling. Last year, there was the Belfast Agreement, the appearance of the Balcombe Street bombers, a heady conference mix of controversy, fire and fervour and the idea of a party putting the main focus on the ballot box, in the expectation of major political gains.
This weekend, though, the mood was quiet, unsure, frustrated. Where were the political gains, delegates wondered. Why weren't Martin McGuinness and Bairbre de Brun, Sinn Fein's nominees for the executive, arriving in their ministerial cars? The D-word was causing all the trouble, as everybody realised. But the line from the conference was the same - no change, no guns - and was best expressed by Des Murphy: "The only D-word you will get from republicans in south Armagh is demilitarisation, and we want it now".
The cry also went out for the disbandment of the RUC. New "Disband the RUC" badges were on sale in the shop, a pound each. There were equally trenchant calls for the scrapping of the Garda Special Branch. In fact, another sign of changed times was the marked absence of Special Branch detectives outside the RDS maintaining their usual hawk-eye on who's who in republicanism these days.
Gerry Adams threw off his jacket to address the conference on Saturday evening. He hit all the right buttons, denouncing the police, complaining about the "securocrats" and unionist intransigence, praising "IRA volunteers" and demanding full implementation of the Belfast Agreement.
At the end of his delivery Frances Black came on to dedicate what is now a Sinn Fein anthem, Something Inside So Strong, to the memory of Robert Hamill and Rosemary Nelson. That also provided an emotional lift.
But, probably because of the political uncertainty, the mood, apart from a few flickers, was generally downbeat. Sinn Fein was not just a party of protest, said Mr Adams. "We are also a party of serious opposition and good government."
Sinn Fein in the tea rooms, serious opposition, good government and frustration at the continuing stalemate. That was revolutionary republicanism at the weekend.
