SINN FÉIN:Sinn Féin has selected 40 candidates in 37 constituencies, writes MARY MINIHAN
SINN FÉIN faces into the general election encouraged by Pearse Doherty’s victory in last November’s Donegal South West byelection, but party president Gerry Adams’s comments on economic matters continue to risk ridicule.
Adams last year revealed he would quit the Stormont Assembly and resign his West Belfast seat at Westminster to contest the election in Louth, following the announcement that party colleague Arthur Morgan would not run again.
Adams seems almost certain to take a seat in the constituency, where former minister for justice Dermot Ahern will not stand again, although the declaration of Gaelic football manager Peter Fitzpatrick as a Fine Gael candidate could make the race more interesting.
Ahead of the 2007 general election, Adams famously participated in a four-way debate on RTÉ television with former PD leader Michael McDowell and others. He came across as poorly informed on financial matters and continues to sound unsure of his economic footing in broadcast interviews.
Sinn Féin entered the 2007 contest with high hopes but emerged down one TD, although Doherty’s byelection victory brought its tally of Dáil deputies back to five.
At the age of 33, Doherty is at a generational remove from the Troubles and does not suffer the traditional transfer-resistance of some older colleagues.
The party’s national vote increased in 2007 by 20,000 first preferences on the 121,000 it received in 2002, but Sinn Féin ran 27 candidates in 2002, whereas last time it ran 42 candidates in 41 constituencies. The latest Irish Times/IpsosMRBI opinion poll last December put Sinn Féin at 15 per cent, up seven points on the previous poll.
The party is continuing to finalise candidates, having selected 40 now in 37 constituencies. These include former MEP Mary-Lou McDonald, making a second bid for a seat in Dublin Central. Another is Limerick councillor Maurice Quinlivan, who came to national prominence last year when Willie O’Dea resigned as minister for defence after incorrectly suggesting the councillor was linked to a brothel.
All the major political parties have ruled out coalition with Sinn Féin, which allows the party to position itself as an “ultra” Opposition party which is not part of the so-called “consensus for cuts” and committed to telling “the IMF to get lost” and “burning bondholders”.
Labour in particular will target Sinn Féin’s stance on the bank guarantee. Fine Gael supported the Bill, while Sinn Féin, in a reversal of its initial response, went on to join Labour in opposing it. Jibes about Adams’s recent appointment as a baron will also prove difficult to resist.
Doherty spoke recently of the party being “under serious pressure” financially.
For a party with such a strong tradition of organisation, this seems unlikely.
HOW THEY FARED IN 2007
VOTE PERCENTAGE:6.9%
SEATS:4