SINN FÉIN LEADING LURCH TO THE LEFT IN REPUBLIC
Posted By: March 04, 2015
“It’s also a given that a vastly increased Sinn Féin contingent of TDs will exert much greater leverage on an Irish government even if they aren’t part of that government.
The hands-off approach to the north which Kenny’s government has followed will be over. “
Brian Feeney. Irish news ( Belfast). Wednesday, March 4, 2015
THERE’S a fascinating grim struggle going on in the Republic. Usually it’s below the radar but during the past couple of weeks of party conferences it hit the headlines.
Well, down there anyway. People used to think the party most in danger from Sinn Féin was Fianna Fáil whose republican credentials were pretty ragged.
At one stage it looked as if the party might suffer the same fate as the SDLP. However, a far more exciting prospect than eclipsing Fianna Fáil has opened for Sinn Féin.
SF are in the process of capturing the Labour party’s traditional vote while Fianna Fáil is being squeezed out in a tussle between Fine Gael and a broad left front led by Sinn Féin. As Fine Gael’s Michael Noonan said before Christmas: “It’s either Gerry or Enda.” Now of course it’s not as simple as that and it’s true Noonan was trying to frighten the horses, but a lot of people believe him.
At the Fine Gael party conference ten days ago, you could see the beginnings of their post-election strategy. Enda Kenny made a strong appeal for a second term coalition with Labour but he knows with Labour running at 7 per cent in the polls the two parties won’t have enough seats to make the magic 83 for a Dáil majority. Many in Labour believe another coalition would be the kiss of death. To the annoyance of Labour he also made overtures to independents who have lost the Fine Gael whip and to other ‘like-minded’ independents. (There are now 23 independents in the Dáil).
At the weekend the Tánaiste Joan Burton tried to rally her dejected troops at their conference in Killarney telling them to concentrate on new policies in the next year before the election. The trouble is new policies mean new promises and no one believes them after 2011. The fact is by-elections and council elections have shown that the working-class vote in Dublin has deserted Labour. That vote is now being fought over by Sinn Féin and various manifestations of Trotskyites and Lone Rangers.
Sinn Féin is now making an open play to lead a ‘Left Alliance’ in the next Dáil. The ambitious aim is nothing less than transforming Irish politics from civil war politics into left-right politics forcing Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil into the same corner on the right. In a major speech to Sinn Féin public representatives on February 8, Gerry Adams said: “Sinn Féin seeks to lead an anti-austerity government after the next general election.” There you have it.
At present the polls indicate Sinn Féin could win 40 seats, a long way short of 83 . However with independents polling well and a mixture of Trotskyite fronts, Sinn Féin could dominate a rag bag coalition inviting the remnants of Labour, expected to be about ten, to join.
An indication of the way the wind is blowing is that Jack O’Connor, president of SIPTU, the Republic’s biggest trade union, wrote an article in An Phoblacht calling for an alliance between SF, Labour and left-wing TDs. True, O’Connor was at Killarney to speak at Labour’s conference but Labour know they can no longer take Union support as a given. Changed times indeed.
So what has any of that got to do with here? It’s surely self-evident that Gerry Adams and Sinn Féin will be major players in the next Dáil. That Dáil will be fragmented as never before with the old civil war parties facing an unprecedented number of left-wing TDs.
It’s also a given that a vastly increased Sinn Féin contingent of TDs will exert much greater leverage on an Irish government even if they aren’t part of that government.
The hands-off approach to the north which Kenny’s government has followed will be over. For example, not many people paid attention to the presence of three left-wing TDs, Clare Daly, Maureen O’Sullivan and Thomas Pringle in Derry to support dissident republican Councillor Gary Donnelly in his court appeal.
With a new coalition government in Britain and an unpredictable realignment of politics in the Republic, do you not think it’s near time unionists started paying attention to what’s going on south of the border?
At present their approach is to close their eyes, stick their fingers in their ears and chant,’La, la, la.’ There could be a nasty surprise when they open their eyes.
THERE’S a fascinating grim struggle going on in the Republic. Usually it’s below the radar but during the past couple of weeks of party conferences it hit the headlines.
Well, down there anyway. People used to think the party most in danger from Sinn Féin was Fianna Fáil whose republican credentials were pretty ragged.
At one stage it looked as if the party might suffer the same fate as the SDLP. However, a far more exciting prospect than eclipsing Fianna Fáil has opened for Sinn Féin.
SF are in the process of capturing the Labour party’s traditional vote while Fianna Fáil is being squeezed out in a tussle between Fine Gael and a broad left front led by Sinn Féin. As Fine Gael’s Michael Noonan said before Christmas: “It’s either Gerry or Enda.” Now of course it’s not as simple as that and it’s true Noonan was trying to frighten the horses, but a lot of people believe him.
At the Fine Gael party conference ten days ago, you could see the beginnings of their post-election strategy. Enda Kenny made a strong appeal for a second term coalition with Labour but he knows with Labour running at 7 per cent in the polls the two parties won’t have enough seats to make the magic 83 for a Dáil majority. Many in Labour believe another coalition would be the kiss of death. To the annoyance of Labour he also made overtures to independents who have lost the Fine Gael whip and to other ‘like-minded’ independents. (There are now 23 independents in the Dáil).
At the weekend the Tánaiste Joan Burton tried to rally her dejected troops at their conference in Killarney telling them to concentrate on new policies in the next year before the election. The trouble is new policies mean new promises and no one believes them after 2011. The fact is by-elections and council elections have shown that the working-class vote in Dublin has deserted Labour. That vote is now being fought over by Sinn Féin and various manifestations of Trotskyites and Lone Rangers.
Sinn Féin is now making an open play to lead a ‘Left Alliance’ in the next Dáil. The ambitious aim is nothing less than transforming Irish politics from civil war politics into left-right politics forcing Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil into the same corner on the right. In a major speech to Sinn Féin public representatives on February 8, Gerry Adams said: “Sinn Féin seeks to lead an anti-austerity government after the next general election.” There you have it.
At present the polls indicate Sinn Féin could win 40 seats, a long way short of 83 . However with independents polling well and a mixture of Trotskyite fronts, Sinn Féin could dominate a rag bag coalition inviting the remnants of Labour, expected to be about ten, to join.
An indication of the way the wind is blowing is that Jack O’Connor, president of SIPTU, the Republic’s biggest trade union, wrote an article in An Phoblacht calling for an alliance between SF, Labour and left-wing TDs. True, O’Connor was at Killarney to speak at Labour’s conference but Labour know they can no longer take Union support as a given. Changed times indeed.
So what has any of that got to do with here? It’s surely self-evident that Gerry Adams and Sinn Féin will be major players in the next Dáil. That Dáil will be fragmented as never before with the old civil war parties facing an unprecedented number of left-wing TDs.
It’s also a given that a vastly increased Sinn Féin contingent of TDs will exert much greater leverage on an Irish government even if they aren’t part of that government.
The hands-off approach to the north which Kenny’s government has followed will be over. For example, not many people paid attention to the presence of three left-wing TDs, Clare Daly, Maureen O’Sullivan and Thomas Pringle in Derry to support dissident republican Councillor Gary Donnelly in his court appeal.
With a new coalition government in Britain and an unpredictable realignment of politics in the Republic, do you not think it’s near time unionists started paying attention to what’s going on south of the border?
At present their approach is to close their eyes, stick their fingers in their ears and chant,’La, la, la.’ There could be a nasty surprise when they open their eyes.
