Republican News · Thursday 28 February 2002

Running scared

Michael McDowell's hysterical attack on Sinn Féin last week was an act of desperation. The PD Attorney General's verbal assault said more about the electorate's unimpressed reaction to the return of their patrician saviour, as a poll showed him trailing a nationally unknown Sinn Féin candidate.

His intent was to frighten voters from voting Sinn Féin but the party's workers drew attention to McDowell's admission that he hasn't put out a single leaflet or gone to a single door in Dublin South East.

Similarly desperate was the attempt made by the Irish Independent and the Evening Herald, no doubt to be followed by their Sunday stablemates, to write off Sinn Féin on the basis of one poll result in one constituency. Only weeks ago, the Independent was predicting gains for Sinn Féin beyond the party's own stated expectations on the basis of an 8% national poll showing.

The key point is that elections are not won on campaigns alone and it would be silly indeed to place too much faith in either polls or leader writers. Voters know who has been working in their areas on behalf of people. In Dublin South East, for example, Daithí Doolan cannot be faulted in terms of application and enthusiasm. He is typical of Sinn Féin candidates and representatives across the island.

Hard work and true representation are what Sinn Féin offers and delivers on. Promising polls are all very well and less promising polls are a disappointment, but no election was ever won in a telephone poll or lost on the basis of a predictable Independent Newspapers' editorial line.

Elections are won on work done and the likes of Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, Sean Crowe and Martin Ferris will be standing on doorsteps confident in the knowledge that they have provided excellent representation and that the radical vision offered by Sinn Féin is attracting more and more support throughout the island.

Make no mistake. These attacks are a very obvious sign that the establishment is running scared.