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THERE ARE MIXED views in Sinn Féin about whether it will be palatable for the party to go into government with Fianna Fáil, if that option is on the table after the next general election.
Attendees The Journal spoke to at yesterday’s Sinn Féin Ard Fheis at the Technological University of Shannon Campus in Athlone outlined the differing views about whether its members would sign-off on going into a possible future coalition with Fianna Fáil.
While some said it would involve significant compromises being made on party policy, others seemed more open to the idea if it meant that Sinn Féin would finally take a seat in government.
There was a confident energy at the party’s Ard Fheis in Athlone this weekend, though some noted yesterday’s affair was more muted than previous years, with some stating there were smaller numbers in attendance.
Among members, while there was a general view that Sinn Féin could make big strides in the next election, there was also a feeling that nothing can be taken for granted.
A lot can change in an election campaign, after all.
Speaking to The Journal, James Stokes, 18-year-old Sinn Féin local election candidate for Newbridge said:
It does feel like we’re going to win next time. It looks like there’s going to be change and it looks like we’re not going to need Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael.
This was a point also made by the party’s finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty who told members in his speech that the focus has to be about electing enough Sinn Féin TDs to form a government without Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil after the next general election.
But if the numbers don’t go their way, would Sinn Féin be willing to do business with Fianna Fáil?
If it comes down to that, it will come down to the members, said Stokes.
Mary Lou McDonald failed to rule out going into coalition with Fianna Fáil this week, while there has been commentary that Micheál Martin’s stance has softened somewhat.
At the Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis last week, Martin said it is not by any means a certainty that Sinn Féin will walk the election, stating that it is “wide open”.
Some within the Fianna Fáil have said Martin’s sense of duty to public service may lead to him accept the most difficult prospect of going into government with Sinn Féin after the next election, if it meant he could keep Sinn Féin “in check”, as one Fianna Fáil politician put it.
Stokes told The Journal yesterday that for the last 100 years Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been in power.
“There needs to be a chance of change, a change in leadership. I think Sinn Féin will be that change,” he said, adding that Sinn Féin is “100%” a home for the young voter.
Sinn Féin saw its poll numbers drop in recent days, with last weekend’s Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks opinion poll putting the party four points to 31%.
Fine Gael was up two to 21% and Fianna Fáil was up one to 18%. Support for the Green Party remained unchanged at 4%.
While the polling numbers fell, Sinn Féin is still in a comfortable position.
There has been a lot of commentary that the party is attracting young voters who, in a housing crisis, feel disenfranchised by the establishment parties.
McDonald, tapping in on that audience, said in her speech that housing was Sinn Féin’s number one priority, pledging to roll out the biggest housing programme in the history of the State if successful after the next election.
Both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil know their weak point in the narrative is housing, and in recent months has been at pains to highlight to the younger first-time buyer generation that if in government, Sinn Féin plans to scrap the Help-to-Buy scheme and the First Home scheme.
Another young Sinn Féin party member, Thabiso from Newbridge, said he was impressed with the speakers at yesterday’s Ard Fheis.
“They are all so confident, it really is inspiring. Especially with the support for Palestine – everybody’s standing up. It shows that among the base, like there is real support for the policies that the party is pushing as well,” he said.
After the next election, Sinn Féin “will have the power”, he said.
“It will be the biggest bloc, we’d have most of the voters on our side,” he added.
There is some expectation that after the next general election a rainbow coalition could be formed, with some predicting a left-leaning government with Sinn Féin at the helm.
Others predict it won’t be clear cut, and it could result in a SF-FF government, with independents and other smaller parties tacked on.
There’s even some speculation as to whether we could be facing into another rotating Taoiseach mechanism between McDonald and Martin.
In the end, it’s all speculation, and it’s only after the election will the whole picture become clear.
At yesterday’s event, most Sinn Féin voters The Journal spoke to felt that they were on the cusp of historic change in Irish politics.
The party speakers hammered home this message: Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael had been in power for too long, that it was time for change, and Sinn Féin is ready to lead.
In her closing speech, McDonald said:
“A new government without Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil for the first time in a hundred years. Just imagine that. That would be the very best outcome from the General Election.”
“Of course, the people will make that call. It’s your decision. We take nothing for granted. There are no inevitabilities,” she added.
Doherty acknowledged in his speech that they understand the “great responsibility” that could be placed upon them.
“We know the challenges before us,” he said.
Listing off all the problems facing society, from the high cost of living, to issues in the health service, to the housing and homelessness crisis, Doherty said his party is “determined to deliver”.
“We have the ideas, the energy and the will to move our country forward and give hope to our people,” he told the crowd yesterday.
A number of promises were also made, such as building the economy, improving living standards, rebuilding the health service, and building more homes.
McDonald promised a three-year rent freeze, while Housing Minister Eoin Ó Broin pledged to end homelessness for those over the age of 55 in a single year.
That one will be jotted down by their opponents and filed away for a time when Sinn Féin might be in power.
Venturing into specifics and timelines with their pledges is what will be required as we get closer to election time. Vague visions for the future won’t cut it with the electorate.
With the countdown to the next election on, it’s the specifics and the granular policy detail that voters will demand from Sinn Féin, and the answers better stack up if the party wants to take the next step.
The younger generation that the party is targeting have big demands, big expectations and they’re not to be trifled with.
The party is fast realising that even if given the opportunity, the real pressure will begin when people expect delivery on those promises. That will be the real test for Sinn Féin.
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Definitely voting no. No way in hell I’m having a President that’s 21 years of age. Probably vote yes on that other little issue.
I think gay people should be entitled to be just as miserable as every other married couple. vote yes.
Many are miserable without being married?
Voting ‘yes’. Let’s get this done, once and for all. Couldn’t bear this debate dragging on for years to come. The time is now. It’s the fair and right thing to do.
Most certainly I will vote yes.Time to exit the dark ages.
I am, I am and it’s YES!
I am voting No in defence of a child’s right to a mother and a father.
I thought the referendum was about marriage?
It is, David. Top Cat’s gripe is with the already-passed Children and Family Relationships Bill. But he’s powerless against that. So, he’s determined to take out his grievances on the upcoming marriage equality referendum instead. I know, I know…
@TopCat:
You’re “defending” a right that doesn’t exist. It has NEVER existed.
Why are you ACTIVELY misleading people? Vote how you wish, but stop lying to people. It’s unconscionable and you don’t seem to care.
Fact is:
Voting No will NOT create a “right to a mother and father” that doesn’t exist in the first place. If it did the State would have to force single mothers to stay with their baby’s father.
Voting Yes will not change the fact that the State must always put a Child’s best interests FIRST.
@TopCat: Just be honest with people and admit that you are motivated on this issue by your extreme religious convictions. People will at least respect you more.
This article from a senior lecturer in Constitutional Law at UCC explains why the No side keep talking about children:
A yes vote would copper fasten the removal of any preference for traditional MF relationships over MM/FF relationships in Article 41 “The Family”, ultimately denying children their right to a mother and a father. The constitution is an interlocking document so it is disingenuous in the extreme to suggest a yes vote would have absolutely no impact on children.
Top Cat followed by The Iona Institute, enough said.
I’m voting YES and I’ve checked. The referendum you’re voting in must be different to the one I’m voting in, Top Cat because it has nothing to do with children.
@Winding; Section 7 & Section 9 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states a child’s right to a mother and father. Furthermore I am not a religious person I am actually agnostic.
Top Cat. It’s not the removal of a preference for a particular kind of family. Instead, it’s acknowledging that other types of families do already exist and offering them the protection they are currently denied.
@Top Cat:
TopCat’s claims are NOT supported by the Irish Supreme Court – which has previously said that married couples do NOT have a constitutional right to assisted human reproduction.
So if married straight couples don’t have that right, married gay couples won’t have it either.
I urge floating voters to read this link and not to listen to TopCat’s campaign of misinformation:
@TopCat:
Stop quoting the “Family” chapter heading in the Constitutional as if it’s relevant to anything. It isn’t. And every first year law student knows that. There are several Supreme Court decisions which contradict your claim (see link above) so and start being honest with people for a change.
You are motivated in this referendum by an extreme religious bias. Which is your call. But stop using it to justify lying to people – the Referendum’s outcome will NOT impact the rights of the unborn/un-conceived child.
I had the right to a mother and father also and my mother walked out on us when I was 2 weeks old. You really are undermining the job my father did raising us in what you are saying.
Daniel I was raised by a single father and I know the pain of losing a mother so I cannot vote to deprive future children of a mother or a father.
“Section 7 & Section 9 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states a child’s right to a mother and father”
Had a quick glance at that document. Interestingly neither article (not section) 7 or 9 contain either the word “mother” or “father” .
More outright lies it seems
In fact, the word “father” doesn’t appear in The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child at all, while the word “mother” only appears once; in Article 24 (Health and Health Services), section 2 (States’ Responsibilities), point D: ” To ensure appropriate pre-natal and post-natal health care for mothers”.
Therefore, by examining the document, we can see that the UNC on the Rights of the Child does not establish “a child’s right to a mother and father”
You should actually take the time to read what you think supports your claims.
Did you just completely make that up, Top Cat?!
Martin it has a part to do with adopting children as that was the talk from the TV… THE QUESTION THEN IS WHERE IS THE HOT AIR BEING BLOWN FROM?
Top cat
I presume you are straight man possibly married with kids. What happens if one of your kids comes home one day and tells you he or she is gay. Do you tell them they can never get married or have kids of their own??? That thought is pretty sad.
I’ll take that a ‘yes’ then, Top Cat, shall I?
7: “…children have a right to know and as far as possible to be cared for by their parents”
9: “…state parties shall ensure that a child shall not be seperated from his or her parents against their will, except when competent authorities subject to judicial review in accordance with applicable law and procedures that such separation is necessary in the best interest of a child”
Now tell me is seperating a child from its mother because Adam & Steve have an emotional urge to parent “in the best interest of a child”?
You did make it up.
No Lloyd I took it word from word from here:
http://www.childrensrights.ie/sites/default/files/submissions_reports/files/UNCRCEnglish_0.pdf
Apologies on a postcard.
Yes, Top Cat. And you’ve blatantly changed the wording of it. You can’t just go around editing UN charters to suit your own ends! That’s a new low, even for you.
Go away and read it. I didn’t type the entire article in here because I have better things to be doing with my day than transcribing entire UN conventions verbatim onto the journal. I lied about nothing as you accused me of and you should apologise but I won’t hold my breath.
You added the words ‘mother’ and ‘father’ even though those words are not mentioned. John already pointed it out earlier. I’ve since read it and he’s right.
Read it myself, no mention of ‘Mother’ or ‘Father’ where relevant.
Exactly David. Top Cat’s been snared, yet again.
Vote YES for Equality in Ireland for ALL!
Don’t be daft there is no equality in Ireland and you can see that with the hospitals, banks and the homeless?
Voting yes and so are my kids because we don’t believe its right to treat others like second class citizens, doing that has bred a society that gets disgusted at the sight of two men hugging, it breeds people that think it’s ok to call people freaks, that obsess on people who don’t have sex like they do, that call other humans unnatural, that use phrases like Ernie and Bert when talking about homosexuals and bull dykes when talking about lesbians, that associated the lgbt community with paedophilia and beastiality. These are all of the things I’ve seen on here in the past few weeks and that’s just the ones I remember off the top of my head. I do not want that society to stay as it is, I’m embarrassed of it and the people who do not think about the message they are sending young people by saying these offensive nasty things. They say they want to protect children but haven’t thought at all of lgbt children and their siblings.
Errors always occur. If you can’t be found on their Register printout on the day, insist that your Polling Station phones up your local Council – all Councils will have staff on hand on 22 May to clear up any confusion.
Also only Irish citizens may vote – so if your polling card doesn’t come or you lose it, just bring along your Irish Passport with you instead.
You do NOT need to have a polling card to vote, just proof of ID!
I am and have reminded my family as well
Voting YES!!!
A pity that Irish citizens here in the North of Ireland are still refused a vote- it would have been a YES-YES from me.
It’s children of the Republic that have to endure the consequences of a yes vote so just as well you can’t vote.
A genuine question Top Cat.
It’s clear you don’t want same sex couples raising children, we’ve established that much. So how do you reconcile the fact (not the opinion now, the fact) that gay people will continue to have the right to adopt and raise children regardless of the result?
Your issue seems to be with same sex parenting, and not same sex people committing to each other. Therefore, either way, YES or NO, you lose.
Vote no because a child deserved the balanced upbringing of a mother and father.
Without interference/or hindrance.
“Vote no because a child deserved the balanced upbringing of a mother and father”
And, again a NO vote will not stop gay people from raising kids. If you believe it will you’re gonna be very dissapointed.
Just imagine it Dave, gay people are already raising kids and will consider to do so no matter what happens. There is nothing you can do about that.
Topcat, can you explain to me:
1. What does a mother bring to the table that a father doesn’t?
2. What does a father bring to the table that a mother doesn’t?
You keep saying that a child should have a mother and father (insulting every single parent family in the country) however to me it just stinks of the nuns in the 50′s, 60′s and 70′s who sold babies of unmarried mothers on the basis that they didn’t think it was normal for an unmarried mother to raise a child!
David Nolan. Nothing to do with the referendum.
To deliberately take away the natural order to be raised by a mother and father, is a abuse of a childs right to be raised in a balanced environment.
Right lloyd.
@David Nolan:
You’re comment is about as relevant to the Marriage Referendum as it is to the President Age Referendum. Which is, Not At All.
David, my sister is a single Mum. Her marriage didn’t work out. The Dad isn’t around much. Are you suggesting she’s abusing her children?
No I did not insinuate that your sister had done or was doing anything wrong, but I would be sure that your sister will most likely will go into another relationship.
What happened to you sister happened to me.
A hetrosexual couple relationship does not, deliberately interfere with the natural process of having children,
Children at the end of the day still have a mom and dad
David. Please don’t backtrack. What you said, exactly, was that “to deliberately take away the natural order to be raised by a mother and father, is an abuse of a child’s right to be raised in a balanced environment”. Because of the choice my sister made to divorce, my nephew’s father is no longer around to the same degree. By your reckoning, she ‘deliberately took away the natural order’. By your logic then, my sister is abusing my nephew. Can you clarify that please?
I’m not back tracking, from the start your sisters children had a mother and a father.
Thats taken away by way of adoptions and ivf.
Your sister didn’t get into a relationship with the intention of anything like this happening and most likely her partner didn’t either.
However the children still have a mother and a father,although they are separated, the children have both.
Although this is not ideal for anyone concerned, most hetrosexual relationships are valued by society, and the recognition of that culminates more often than not in marriage.After Thousands of years of human development, this relationship has in the last 800+ years has been documented,books,poems,movies,sculptures,paintings,science,psychology,physiology. Billions spent on publishing and purchasing this information.
Just one example is Dr spock a very famous book for mothers and fathers.
Society crystalises the relationship mom and dad by the recognition of marriage.
I don’t believe straight couples get married for tax reasons and if they do its rare.
They may avail of laws that facilite the protection of the traditional family.But I doubt straight couples go out before or during a relationship looking into the tax or law implications of marriage.
They may come into play in certain situations, but for most straight couples , the impetus for getting is driven by a desire for children and a commitment to each other and to protect their children.
This is a quote.
“When my family get together, we end up talking about who looks like who, and who have the same mannerisms and reactions.
It used to annoy me (“I’m me, not just bits of other people!”) until recently I heard somebody describe how she didn’t know who her father was, or if she looked like him.
She didn’t know if she had siblings or if she looked like them. It made me realise that I’m lucky that I have clear evidence – in the colour of my eyes and the length of my forehead, in the point of my nose and my freckles – that I am biologically connected to my parents and siblings.
Also that I have a physical inheritance from my grandparents which I also share with my cousins. I never thought of it before, but my parents’ marriage is written on my face!” Niamh, 22
Nice try but you have totally back-tracked.
Lloyd explian…
I already explained, David. You’re trying to mitigate your original comment on this point aka backtrack. Too late.
Ok but I think if you go back on my comments you will see your error Lloyd.
Lloyd stop thumbing your own comments and mine its childish.
Lloyd!
Lloyd….
Oh Lloyd come on just stop with the thumbing.
Cheers for that lads wasn’t sure if I was on it or not but I am delighted will be up voting for what I believe in and that is ensuring my daughter will be feee to marry whom she loves be it man or woman! That’s the only relation to children this referendum has. Marriage is not the foundation for families.
Hard to check the register if the site is down !
Vote no and protect the innocence of children. If passed ,over 50 laws concerning children will be changed, this is being kept quiet by the yes campaign and more worryingly being denied.
Totally untrue.
@mdmak33
I challenge you to list the laws that will be changed, with facts on how exactly they will be changed
Cant be arsed..if its a yes or no..who cares
Spoken like someone who is allowed to marry his partner.
You cared enough to leave a comment and read the article.
There’s a referendum on same sex marriage? Why hasn’t this been mentioned before on the journal??
THEY TRIED LOL.
In view of all scandal at the moment then it is past time to have a full copy of the register on-line and not just a facility where one can see if they are on it – single search rubbish – t
Basing this on the last time I checked it online …
I’m in and have my train ticket booked…home to Mammy’s house friday to vote then Eurovision Party Saturday :D
Do you have to be resident in Ireland to be eligible to vote? I’m Irish but live in Scotland now.
Yes, you have to physically be here. The ‘take the boat to vote’ was a campaign urging Irish citizens living in the UK to come home for the weekend to vote.
Just to clarify, you don’t have to ordinarily be resident here. Just be an Irish citizen, registered to vote and physically present at your polling station on the 22nd. You can check you’re on the register on checktheregister.ie using the address you had in Ireland before you left. :)
It be funny if you were on the wrong register as many on the U.K. sex offence register are over here now in Dublin???
IT IS CALLED VETTING LOL.
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