LOCAL ELECTIONS:LABOUR AND the Greens had become the "mudguard" for Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael in the past, rather than the "vanguard" in Irish politics, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams told a news conference in Dublin yesterday. Sinn Féin is running 218 candidates in the local elections for a total of 257 seats, with some candidates seeking election to both town and county councils. The party currently has 121 seats held by 108 councillors.
Launching Sinn Féin’s local election manifesto, Mr Adams said he had always refused to make predictions about the number of seats his party would win in elections.
“We would certainly look to consolidate the number of seats that we have,” he said. “I would be hopeful we would make some gains.”
Asked to clarify Sinn Féin’s attitude to possible participation in government in the Republic, the Sinn Féin president replied: “Post-this election and post the general election, whenever the Taoiseach calls it – or when he’s forced to call it – then we can see, given our mandate, how we can coalesce with people with a similar vision.”
Asked if he expected disillusioned Fianna Fáil voters would turn to Sinn Féin, rather than, say, Fine Gael, he replied: “I don’t know. I do know, in my gut, that a vote for Fine Gael, for anyone who wants the social changes which are required, is a wasted vote.
“Go back over a 30-year period and look at the number of times that Labour rescued Fine Gael. Look at the many times that Labour – and indeed the Greens are a perfect example of it – became the mudguard instead of the vanguard, of the bigger establishment parties.
“We’re appealing for votes right across the entire spectrum,” Mr Adams said.
Dublin city councillor Daithí Doolan said local government reform should give real power to local authorities to raise finances.
Dublin was 70 per cent dependent on rates and development levies, with 30 per cent coming from central Government.
“We want to change that,” he said.
Sinn Féin supported a hotel bed tax based on a percentage of the overall hotel bill for tourists and other visitors to the city, the precise level to be set by the elected representatives. It has also proposed that a proportion of the VAT raised on the sale of goods in Dublin be “ringfenced” and channelled back to the city council.
Mr Doolan said these measures would “provide extra and essential funding to this city, rather than being dependent on Government handouts which are dwindling”.
Of Minister for the Environment John Gormley’s proposal for a directly-elected mayor of Dublin, Mr Doolan said: “On its own, it’s irrelevant. What we really need, if you want real change rather than Gormley’s window-dressing, we want real power devolved to local authorities.
“We need to reform central government legislation and hand the power back to those people with a mandate in this city,” he said.
Asked he would be interested in the job, he replied: “I’m busy enough being a city councillor. The party will review that situation, I’m sure we will be standing a candidate, of course.”