Micheál has Sinn Féin in his electoral sights
Posted By: April 23, 2016
Patrick Murphy. Irish News (Belfast). Saturday, April 23, 2016
There has been a minor outbreak of Irish history. For the first time in about 45 years a senior Dáil politician has criticised the Stormont government.
Indeed, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin did not just criticize Stormont, he attacked its performance last weekend in a manner rarely seen since de Valera said that partition was an old fortress of crumbled masonry, held together with the plaster of fiction. (I think he got that one wrong.)
Mr Martin’s more positive contribution at his party’s 1916 commemoration called on the British and Irish governments to challenge the DUP/Sinn Féin “stranglehold” on the Assembly. He said it was causing “immense damage” to public support for Stormont and public engagement in politics.
He has previously criticised Sinn Féin’s Stormont performance and highlighted contradictions between the party’s policies, North and South, but this time he included the DUP in his political sights.
His comments represent a significant departure from the standard Dublin policy of unwavering support for Belfast’s ailing institutions. So why has he distanced himself from Fine Gael on the matter and what is the likely impact of this new stance on Irish politics, North and South?
Although many argue that Fianna Fáil (FF) is competing with Sinn Féin (SF) to become the new Dáil’s main opposition, this attack is more wide-ranging in intent. It signals the emergence of FF’s new all-Ireland approach to politics, which has been largely forced on it by three factors.
The first[factor] is the increasingly surreal situation whereby the Dublin government supports northern nationalism at successive Stormont talks, while nationalism’s main party, Sinn Féin, attacks the same government in the Dáil.
These attacks have gone beyond social and economic policy. Following the Stormont House talks last January, Sinn Féin described Enda Kenny’s administration as “the most deficient, inefficient and incompetent in dealing with the North”. (And you thought that description should apply to Stormont.)
Micheál Martin is now retaliating: if SF criticizes the Dublin government, he has the right (and indeed the obligation) to criticize the Belfast administration. He has plenty to criticize.
The second aim of FF’s new departure is to tackle SF’s in-built electoral advantage in the South, based on inaccurately claiming that Stormont is a model of good governance and fairness. The claim has largely succeeded because of southern ignorance of northern society.
For example, when Sinn Féin claimed in the recent election campaign that there were no property charges in the North, a Dublin columnist insultingly commented that if life in the North is so good, Gerry Adams should go back there. A more mature response would have been to point out that there is a property charge in the North. It is called rates. Micheál Martin’s attack on Stormont is an attempt to narrow the cross-border knowledge gap.
His third motive is to counter Sinn Féin’s efforts to capture the holy grail of republicanism in the South. The recent Easter commemorations in the North surprisingly showed that SF had lost a significant portion of its republican monopoly. Mr Martin aims to ensure that his party’s republican power-base in the South is not lost to Sinn Féin.
He can gain some advantage in that area by pointing out that while he has been trying to form a minority government, Sinn Féin has opted out, concentrating instead on commemorating 1916 in period costume.
(Is their fetish for 1916 uniforms intended to say, “We’re just back from the GPO and haven’t had time to change”, or do they hope that historical image will offset their modern acceptance of partition? Indeed, if it is politically correct to wear 100-year old uniforms, why were Pearse and Connolly in 1916 not dressed like Robert Emmet during his 1803 Rising? Apparently he wore a green coat, white trousers and a cocked hat. No, you may not comment.)
As the most popular party in the latest opinion polls, FF does not have to compete with SF, having outflanked it in the elections and watched it isolate itself from pre-government negotiations. Sinn Féin, of course, has an easy way to reply to FF’s criticism. It can change how it operates in the North. All it has to do is make Stormont work and to abandon its financial gluttony and political patronage. Moving out of denial would be a useful first step.
Failure to do so will limit its support in the North and it risks making Stormont a political millstone for SF in future Southern elections. Micheál Martin aims to increase that risk by generating a lot more history. Sinn Féin’s challenge is to prevent the current outbreak from becoming contagious. It would need to start soon.
There has been a minor outbreak of Irish history. For the first time in about 45 years a senior Dáil politician has criticised the Stormont government.
Indeed, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin did not just criticize Stormont, he attacked its performance last weekend in a manner rarely seen since de Valera said that partition was an old fortress of crumbled masonry, held together with the plaster of fiction. (I think he got that one wrong.)
Mr Martin’s more positive contribution at his party’s 1916 commemoration called on the British and Irish governments to challenge the DUP/Sinn Féin “stranglehold” on the Assembly. He said it was causing “immense damage” to public support for Stormont and public engagement in politics.
He has previously criticised Sinn Féin’s Stormont performance and highlighted contradictions between the party’s policies, North and South, but this time he included the DUP in his political sights.
His comments represent a significant departure from the standard Dublin policy of unwavering support for Belfast’s ailing institutions. So why has he distanced himself from Fine Gael on the matter and what is the likely impact of this new stance on Irish politics, North and South?
Although many argue that Fianna Fáil (FF) is competing with Sinn Féin (SF) to become the new Dáil’s main opposition, this attack is more wide-ranging in intent. It signals the emergence of FF’s new all-Ireland approach to politics, which has been largely forced on it by three factors.
The first[factor] is the increasingly surreal situation whereby the Dublin government supports northern nationalism at successive Stormont talks, while nationalism’s main party, Sinn Féin, attacks the same government in the Dáil.
These attacks have gone beyond social and economic policy. Following the Stormont House talks last January, Sinn Féin described Enda Kenny’s administration as “the most deficient, inefficient and incompetent in dealing with the North”. (And you thought that description should apply to Stormont.)
Micheál Martin is now retaliating: if SF criticizes the Dublin government, he has the right (and indeed the obligation) to criticize the Belfast administration. He has plenty to criticize.
The second aim of FF’s new departure is to tackle SF’s in-built electoral advantage in the South, based on inaccurately claiming that Stormont is a model of good governance and fairness. The claim has largely succeeded because of southern ignorance of northern society.
For example, when Sinn Féin claimed in the recent election campaign that there were no property charges in the North, a Dublin columnist insultingly commented that if life in the North is so good, Gerry Adams should go back there. A more mature response would have been to point out that there is a property charge in the North. It is called rates. Micheál Martin’s attack on Stormont is an attempt to narrow the cross-border knowledge gap.
His third motive is to counter Sinn Féin’s efforts to capture the holy grail of republicanism in the South. The recent Easter commemorations in the North surprisingly showed that SF had lost a significant portion of its republican monopoly. Mr Martin aims to ensure that his party’s republican power-base in the South is not lost to Sinn Féin.
He can gain some advantage in that area by pointing out that while he has been trying to form a minority government, Sinn Féin has opted out, concentrating instead on commemorating 1916 in period costume.
(Is their fetish for 1916 uniforms intended to say, “We’re just back from the GPO and haven’t had time to change”, or do they hope that historical image will offset their modern acceptance of partition? Indeed, if it is politically correct to wear 100-year old uniforms, why were Pearse and Connolly in 1916 not dressed like Robert Emmet during his 1803 Rising? Apparently he wore a green coat, white trousers and a cocked hat. No, you may not comment.)
As the most popular party in the latest opinion polls, FF does not have to compete with SF, having outflanked it in the elections and watched it isolate itself from pre-government negotiations. Sinn Féin, of course, has an easy way to reply to FF’s criticism. It can change how it operates in the North. All it has to do is make Stormont work and to abandon its financial gluttony and political patronage. Moving out of denial would be a useful first step.
Failure to do so will limit its support in the North and it risks making Stormont a political millstone for SF in future Southern elections. Micheál Martin aims to increase that risk by generating a lot more history. Sinn Féin’s challenge is to prevent the current outbreak from becoming contagious. It would need to start soon.
