Republican News · Thursday 17 June 1999

[An Phoblacht]

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.


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