Sinn Féin, Aontú seen surging as ‘bluffer’ Harris stumbles

The 26 county general election is neck-and-neck between the three main parties following a 6% drop in the support for Fine Gael and a steady increase for Sinn Fein.

Fine Gael’s previously confident boast about winning the most seats has gone silent after a series of damaging missteps by party leader Simon Harris.

A campaign based around “Brand Harris” has backfired after the waffling 38-year-old displayed arrogance and condescension in response to encounters with the public on the campaign trail.

A shamefully high-handed treatment of disability care-worker Charlotte Fallon in a supermarket in Kanturk, County Kerry put a capstone on a disastrous week for the career politician.

Ms Fallon said she was a disability worker and told the Taoiseach that “we fought for our money, and we were ignored.”

Mr Harris said: “no, no, not at all.” She said: “yes, we were. Yes, we were.” She told him the disability sector was “a joke” and, becoming emotional, said that she was “very passionate about my job”.

Mr Harris angrily muttered: “I am very passionate about disability too” before turning and walking away.

Harris was forced to apologise after a clip of an exchange between them on Friday went viral, but refused to say if his party had falsely alleged that Ms Fallon was a member of Sinn Féin.

His demeanour has renewed questions over his decision to back a party candidate in Louth, John McGahon, after he was seen in a video clip to have brutally beating a man lying on the ground in a street-fight in Dundalk. While endorsing him as a candidate, Harris has shied away from appearing with him on the campaign trail.

Harris’s TV appearances have also shown him heavily reliant on a barrage of statistics while lacking a deeper understanding of the serious problems facing the 26 County state, most tragically in the case of the shocking failure to tackle the backlog of children’s spinal surgery, which has left some permanently disabled.

In an election debate last week, Harris lashed out after Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald accused him of “faux compassion” for those suffering the consequences of his inaction. But his competence has been questioned since his mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic while Minister for Health.

After poll numbers show her party and the two main coalition partners close to a three-way tie, at around 20% vote share each, Mary Lou McDonald said that the “momentum for change is with Sinn Féin”

The party is now targeting gains in Galway East, Cork North-Central, Dublin Fingal East, Wicklow-Wexford and Waterford, according to reports.

The Sinn Féin president said that over the past week an energy for the party had “come back very, very strongly” after serious internal problems took their toll earlier this year.

She said it was clear that a surge in support for the party in the polls would “intensify in the coming days”.

Speaking at a press event in her own constituency in Cabra, she said when the campaign had started Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil thought they would be “just waltzing back into Government Buildings. They thought that their pathway was very clear. That’s not the case ... it’s very much game on for this election”.

Ms McDonald pointed out that Sinn Féin is the best choice to deliver a change of government, and condemned Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin for being “intent on putting Fine Gael back in”.

“That would make their term in government 19 years long. I think the Irish people increasingly view that prospect with dread.”

Meanwhile, Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín has said there is a “wave of support “coming to Aontú, which is targeting up to ten seats, with Cavan-Monaghan and Meath East considered the best chance of potential gains.

One recent survey put it on fourth place at 6% of the vote share. A novel manifesto proposal for a cash-and-tax incentive to entice young Irish emigrants home has also been winning votes.

He has ruled out entering a coalition with Fine Gael or the Greens, but left open the possibility of a republican alliance with Sinn Féin. “We have challenged the government more than any other party,” he said.

The vote will take place on Friday, November 29. Polling stations will open from 7am to 10pm, and photo identification in required.

Under the proportional representation single transferable vote (PR-STV) system, voters can vote for as many or as few candidates as they like, in order of preference.

Early indications will come in the form of an exit poll, while votes will start to be counted from 9am on Saturday, November 30. Tally indications are set to come in from mid-morning, while results are expected to be announced from Saturday evening.

Latest coverage of the results will be published on this website and distributed to subscribers as newsflash updates.

Urgent Appeal