A formidable force
By Mícheál MacDonncha
The local election marks the arrival of Sinn Féin as a formidable force in
the 26 Counties. It was a long time coming and many years of hard work had
to be done to achieve it. If successive governments had not repeatedly
postponed local elections we would have seen these advances earlier, but
now they have come they are all the sweeter for the long wait.
Sinn Féin is now the fourth largest party in the 26 Counties. Despite Mary
Harney's desperate efforts on Sunday to claim that the Progressive
Democrats are ahead of Sinn Féin, her protestations were in vain. In
overall local authority seats, vote share and Euro vote totals - where the
PDs could not stand a single candidate - the republican party is streets
ahead. Sinn Féin was undoubtedly the biggest beneficiary in these
elections. Democratic Left is gone from the scene and Labour failed to
benefit electorally from the merger. The Greens lost seats also.
The extent of the Sinn Féin success had to be recognised by the media, much
of which had almost completely ignored the party during the election
campaign. Many expressed ``surprise'' at the results. Of course, if fair and
balanced coverage had been given to the party during the campaign, there
would have been no such surprise as a careful examination of the party's
work would have shown that major gains were on the cards.
The other establishment reaction to the Sinn Féin success was the
patronising one that it was generally a ``good thing'' and that they were
``welcome into the democratic process''. This from parties who had repeatedly
denied the electorate the chance to vote in local elections by postponing
them. That this was a gross abuse was in fact recognised by the `forgotten
referendum', the passing of which now means that local elections must be
held every five years. What is very significant about this result is that
it cannot be classed as an inner city Dublin and border vote alone. Gains
were made in suburban Dublin, Wexford, Cork, Kerry and in large and small
towns dotted around the country. This is a process of building and for the
first time really solid foundations have been laid on a widespread basis
and have been built upon.
Time needs to be taken to assess very carefully Sinn Féin's political
strategy in the 26 Counties, given this new political strength. There has
been some talk of Sinn Féin possibly being ``in government'' North and South,
but republicans need to be very cautious about such notions. First of all,
the Executive in the Six Counties - if it is ever established - will not be
a government in any ordinary sense. It is a unique experiment involving
parties who have come together in a peace process and agreed structures
without concurring even on basic constitutional questions. Sinn
Féin is there because of its considerable political strength in the Six
Counties.
The situation in the 26 Counties is utterly different. Sinn Féin is still a
small albeit rapidly growing party. Its challenge is to build not only an
alternative radical party but alternative radical politics. It needs to
provide the real Opposition.
Last weekend's gains are the fruits of organisational work over the past
five years. It came tantalisingly close to paying off in multiple Leinster
House seats in 1997. In the event, the breakthrough was made by Caoimhghín
O Caoláin on his own but even a cursory glance at these local election
results shows the potential for gains in a number of constituencies come
the next general election.
That election may be upon us sooner than expected. While the Opposition is
sniping unsuccessfully at the government at present with the likes of the
Paddy Duffy affair, continuing tribunals may contain the ticking bomb which
will end the life of the Fianna Fáil/PD government. Sinn Féin needs to be
ready for the general election which would follow - and that could be as
early as this autumn.