Sinn Fein Poll Surge
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Sinn Féin tied for the top spot alongside Fianna Fáil in national polls ahead of elections on February 8
Looks as if we should take a look in more detail at their pamphlet on workers cooperatives mentioned in the thread on that. So here’s some extracts:
“In order for Irish society to have a fair, functioning economy which works for workers and our communities, ownership must be shared. Sinn Féin is serious about addressing inequality in our society, and we are therefore serious about dealing with the inequality of ownership which exists in our economy. That is why Sinn Féin is committed to developing an economy in which workers have a greater share of ownership through Worker Co-operatives (WCOP’s). These are businesses in which the workers of the enterprise own at least 51% of the shares. (…)
An economy that works for workers
Today, Ireland has an economy which does not work for its workers. Despite experiencing high levels of GDP growth (World Economic Forum, 2018) as well as increased levels of productivity (WEF, 2018), gross levels of inequality continue to rise (CSO 2016, TASC, 2019, Social Justice, 2019). (….)
Sinn Féin believes that this wealth inequality is a result of our economy being detrimentally ‘short-termist’ in its outlook – with private firms, through financial intermediaries, weighing near-term profit outcomes too heavily at the expense of longer-term sustainability. This has become the hegemonic strategy for private enterprise. The reality is that ownership shapes purpose. If we allow our economy to be owned and controlled by a small group of elites whose objective is that of profit, then that will be the purpose of our economy. If, however, we agree as a society that our preference is to establish an economy based upon productivity, sustainability and equality then ownership of our economy must be equitably spread across society. This new economy can be achieved through alternative models of business ownership. Sinn Féin believes that the Worker Co-operative Model offers an exciting and innovative alternative.”
Empty electoralist promises or self-delusion? To be fair probably the latter, but it doesn’t matter as it wouldn’t work and won’t even be tried on any large scale.
In any event, the increased support for SF would seem to be more a vote against the previously established parties (which also have names derived from the Irish Civil War, i.e Tribe of the Gaels and Soldiers of Destiny) than for what it says it stands for.
And there is some confusion over Sin Fein’s plan to tax the transnationals
SF now take the lead
Sinn Fein at 25%, making them a clear leader, with support for centre-right Fianna Fail at 23%. Support for governing Fine Gael was 20%.
Approval for Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin fell as Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald rose seven points to 41% to become the most popular among all the main parties.
Sinn Fein are unlikely to emerge as the largest party as it is running only 42 candidates, which is around half the number of candidates being fielded by both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail. Sinn Fein would need to get almost all 42 elected to the 160-seat chamber to give it a shot at emerging as the largest party.
I think this is deliberate on Sinn Fein’s part: with Irish PR, they are never going to get a majority, so they are essentially ensuring that selected candidates are likely to win, and avoiding having the situation where one candidate wins at the expense of the other, ensuring internal party management.
IIRC in Malta, which uses the same system, Parties routinely stand more candidates than there are seats, effectively giving the public the choice of which flavour of a particular party will win…
“Irish PR” , ie the single transferable vote, also applies for local elections in Scotland. I don’t think the party has contested an election under this system as when we contested elections in Northern Ireland that was before the system was introduced there. It would be interesting— but might turnout to be embarrassing — to see to which other parties our second, third and other preference votes would go since I wouldn’t have thought many would strictly follow our advice to just “plump” for our candidate.
With 96% of first-preference votes tallied on Sunday, Sinn Féin had 24.1%, with Fianna Fáil on 22.1%, Fine Gael on 22.1%, Greens on 7.4%, and small leftwing parties and independents comprising the rest. Preliminary vote tallies suggested Sinn Féin could win around 36 seats.
Sinn Féin will try to form a government in Ireland after apparently winning more votes than any other party in Saturday’s general election – a historic result that upended the political system. The party leader, Mary Lou McDonald, told cheering supporters on Sunday that a “revolution” had occurred and she would try to form a ruling coalition with other parties. “This is no longer a two-party system,” she said.
Sinn Fein calls for re-unification referendum
Sinn Féin is presently the most popular party in the Republic, with support at 32%.
In Northern Ireland, in the December general election Sinn Féin’s overall vote in the north fell by 6.7 percentage points.
The fastest-growing bloc is the so-called non-aligned – voters who shun traditional orange/green labels. Opinion polls suggest they tilt towards the status quo: staying in the UK.
Anthony McIntyre, a former Belfast IRA member and commentator, said: “No provisional IRA volunteer who fought the provo war will see a united Ireland.” The NHS and other benefits of the UK would swing the result, he predicted. “People who are only nominally nationalist will vote for the union. That’s where the veto lies.”
Mary Lou McDonald, the leader of Sinn Féin said the promise of a new, progressive, inclusive Ireland, with an NHS-style health service, would win over enough voters. She said a united Ireland must offer unionists “the kinds of protections and assurances that they need” – for instance, a possible continued role for the Stormont assembly
Alan ,
I need to go to RTE and see the current situation!
I have been in lockdown- my brother did not say a thing over the phone!
Its what you get for migrating : disfranchised and late news… ‘Cerns him right, seeking a a bit of sun… is what the State said… so they leave me out in the cold- brother and all!
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