ANALYSIS:Sinn Féin needs to get a handle on sensitivities of voters in the Republic in time for next election, writes DEAGLÚN de BREÁDÚN
THE PARTY conference season was opened by Sinn Féin at the weekend, with others due to set out their stalls over the coming weeks. Despite well-publicised resignations from the party since last June’s local and European elections, the ardfheis was well-attended and at times quite lively.
It could be argued that Sinn Féin is lucky to be in Opposition on this side of the Border, as could also be said for Fine Gael and Labour. Painful decisions on the economy are placing strains on Fianna Fáil and the Greens. But Sinn Féin is in government in the North and clearly revelling in the experience, despite uncertainties over issues such as the devolution of policing and justice.
Martin McGuinness and the party’s other Ministers in the powersharing Executive proudly informed delegates of their achievements, as they saw them, since taking office. The consistent message was that these ministerial accomplishments were not just significant in themselves but were putting us all on the road to a united Ireland.
There was a sense also that, even if the vote in the Assembly on policing goes the wrong way tomorrow, well, that’s a problem for the Unionist parties.
The other constant theme was that, if you don’t think we’re up to being in government down South, just look at what we’ve done north of the Border.
The late Indira Gandhi said that politics was about “the getting and wielding of power” and there was a feeling at the RDS that Sinn Féin, having tasted high office at Stormont, is hungry for power at Leinster House.
There is just one major problem. Sinn Féin has only four TDs and there is no certainty that it will increase – or even hold onto – that number in the next general election.
The party is not short of activists, however, and hundreds of them crammed into the RDS at the weekend. Some of the older ones had first come to public notice when they appeared before the courts for IRA activities but they all seem perfectly happy now with their new political identities – although they still retain a certain military, or rather paramilitary, bearing.
Younger delegates could have been in the Labour Party or one of the far-left groups as they busied themselves with leaflets and speeches on social justice and equality – the forgotten aspects of republicanism that have come to the fore through the peace process.
There was something of a generation gap in the debate on possible coalition with either Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael. A motion sought definitively to rule this out but a leadership amendment proposed a special conference on the issue, should it arise after the general election.
The Young Turks – mainly Dublin-based – argued passionately for a go-it-alone policy but they hadn’t a chance, particularly when Kerry North TD Martin Ferris weighed in on the other side.
It was reminiscent of Labour Party conferences in days of yore. There is the added attraction for Sinn Féin that, should they attain political office on both sides of the Border, then the party’s Ministers from Belfast and Dublin would meet each other in the context of the North-South Ministerial Council. That, in turn, could be presented as a further step along the road to Irish unity, which Sinn Féin sees as one of its unique selling points.
The party is riding high in the North and the presidential address of Gerry Adams on prime-time television here was a golden opportunity to advance Sinn Féin’s cause in this jurisdiction.
Critics of Barack Obama’s campaign for the White House said he kept his speeches vague so as not to alienate potential support and the same could be said of the Adams ardfheis oration.
The Sinn Féin leader confined himself mainly to attacking the Government for what he saw as its misdeeds in relation to the economy.
Despite disavowing the role of “Mr Angry”, the normally rather folksy Adams adopted a sharply confrontational tone in his remarks.
Unlike last year, there was no talk of co-operation with the Labour Party. His policy prescriptions caused confusion among some listeners.
He wanted a third rate of tax on earnings over €100,000 but failed to specify whether this would apply to joint as well as individual incomes exceeding that figure. He proposed a “solidarity tax” of 1 per cent on assets over €1 million, excluding farm land, but did not spell out whether ability to pay was a consideration in coming up with the payment of €10,000 to the Revenue.
Not for the first time one had the feeling that the Northerners who make up the dominant force in Sinn Féin really need to do a lot more work to enhance their understanding of politics in the South and the sensitivities of its highly sophisticated electorate.
The next general election promises to be the sharpest and most competitive for decades and Sinn Féin will have to fight tooth and nail with the other parties for every vote. There is a very real prospect of a change of government but Fianna Fáil has never given up power easily and it is not entirely inconceivable that a small party could hold the balance of power. But based on its ardfheis performance, Sinn Féin needs to get its act together while there’s still time.