Amid a low turnout, the parties of the Irish establishment are set to return to office. It shows that Sinn Fein’s strategy of shifting to the centre failed
The two leaders of Fianna Fail and Fine Gail together (Picture: FreeMalaysiaToday)
By Tomáš Tengely-Evans
Monday 02 December 2024
SOCIALIST WORKER Issue
The major parties of the Irish establishment managed to cling on in the general election this week. But the establishment’s crisis—and working class people’s demands for change—haven’t gone away.
The bosses’ parties, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, took first and second place. Fianna Fail was on 21.86 percent and Fine Gael on 20.8 percent, as Socialist Worker went to press on Tuesday.
Their junior coalition partners of the Green Party took a kicking for propping up a bosses’ government. The Greens’ vote share was down to 3 percent and its expected to lose the vast majority of its seats.
Sinn Fein, which topped the poll in the last general election in 2020, looked set to come third. Either Fianna Fail and Fine Gail have ruled since the foundation of the Irish state in 1922. But their combined share of the vote has declined for the fourth general election in a row and is now at a record low of around 40 percent.
In 2007, just before the global economic crash, Fianna Fail and Fine Gail took almost 70 percent. Since then, the parties have implemented austerity and presided over a worsening housing crisis.
In 2020, Sinn Fein topped the poll for the first time with 24.5 percent of first preference votes. It benefited from voters punishing Fianna Fail and Fine Gael—and faced four years of an unpopular right wing government.
Despite this, Sinn Fein’s vote share fell for the first time in 35 years by 5.5 percentage points to 19 percent. That represents the largest fall of any party at this election.
Sinn Fein moved to the “centre ground” over the last four years as it prepared for getting into office in the south of Ireland. It has tried to reassure big business that it would be a safe pair of hands in running the state. The party also made concessions to the far right’s anti-migrant argument, which also helped to undermine its support in local elections in May.
Socialist Brid Smith, who stood down as a People Before Profit TD (MP), pointed out that Sinn Fein didn’t call for people to vote left and transfer to other left parties early enough. Voters in Ireland rank their preferred candidates in multi member constituencies.
She said, “There was a huge opportunity to see change in this country and end the 100-year rule of Fine Fail and Fine Gail.” She said missing that opportunity was down to “not giving the people most hurt by the policies of both parties the hope that things can change”.
“So, you see a low turnout in some of the least affluent areas and a high turnout in the most affluent areas,” she said.
The mainstream parties will likely return to office, but their crisis remains. It stems from the social crisis facing working class people and mass movements that have changed Irish society, such as over equal marriage and abortion rights. A socialist politics that builds on struggles and fights austerity and racism can offer hope.
Mixed results for the left
The left was squeezed amid low turnout in the Irish election. Socialists Richard Boyd-Barrett, Paul Murphy and Ruth Coppinger were elected as part of the People Before Profit Solidarity ticket.
Richard is a member of People Before Profit (PBP) and the Socialist Worker Network (SWN), the Socialist Workers Party’s sister organisation.
Murphy is a member of Rise, another socialist network within PBP. Coppinger, a member of Solidarity and the Socialist Party, was squeezed by a Green surge in 2020. But she regained the seat this time around. PBB’s Gino Kenny didn’t manage to retain his seat.
PBP councillor Hazel De Nortuin narrowly missed out on winning a seat in Dublin South Central, where former PBP TD (MP) Brid Smith didn’t restand in this election.
The major parties of the Irish establishment managed to cling on in the general election this week. But the establishment’s crisis—and working class people’s demands for change—haven’t gone away.
The bosses’ parties, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, took first and second place. Fianna Fail was on 21.86 percent and Fine Gael on 20.8 percent, as Socialist Worker went to press on Tuesday.
Their junior coalition partners of the Green Party took a kicking for propping up a bosses’ government. The Greens’ vote share was down to 3 percent and its expected to lose the vast majority of its seats.
Sinn Fein, which topped the poll in the last general election in 2020, looked set to come third. Either Fianna Fail and Fine Gail have ruled since the foundation of the Irish state in 1922. But their combined share of the vote has declined for the fourth general election in a row and is now at a record low of around 40 percent.
In 2007, just before the global economic crash, Fianna Fail and Fine Gail took almost 70 percent. Since then, the parties have implemented austerity and presided over a worsening housing crisis.
In 2020, Sinn Fein topped the poll for the first time with 24.5 percent of first preference votes. It benefited from voters punishing Fianna Fail and Fine Gael—and faced four years of an unpopular right wing government.
Despite this, Sinn Fein’s vote share fell for the first time in 35 years by 5.5 percentage points to 19 percent. That represents the largest fall of any party at this election.
Sinn Fein moved to the “centre ground” over the last four years as it prepared for getting into office in the south of Ireland. It has tried to reassure big business that it would be a safe pair of hands in running the state. The party also made concessions to the far right’s anti-migrant argument, which also helped to undermine its support in local elections in May.
Socialist Brid Smith, who stood down as a People Before Profit TD (MP), pointed out that Sinn Fein didn’t call for people to vote left and transfer to other left parties early enough. Voters in Ireland rank their preferred candidates in multi member constituencies.
She said, “There was a huge opportunity to see change in this country and end the 100-year rule of Fine Fail and Fine Gail.” She said missing that opportunity was down to “not giving the people most hurt by the policies of both parties the hope that things can change”.
“So, you see a low turnout in some of the least affluent areas and a high turnout in the most affluent areas,” she said.
The mainstream parties will likely return to office, but their crisis remains. It stems from the social crisis facing working class people and mass movements that have changed Irish society, such as over equal marriage and abortion rights. A socialist politics that builds on struggles and fights austerity and racism can offer hope.
Mixed results for the left
The left was squeezed amid low turnout in the Irish election. Socialists Richard Boyd-Barrett, Paul Murphy and Ruth Coppinger were elected as part of the People Before Profit Solidarity ticket.
Richard is a member of People Before Profit (PBP) and the Socialist Worker Network (SWN), the Socialist Workers Party’s sister organisation.
Murphy is a member of Rise, another socialist network within PBP. Coppinger, a member of Solidarity and the Socialist Party, was squeezed by a Green surge in 2020. But she regained the seat this time around. PBB’s Gino Kenny didn’t manage to retain his seat.
PBP councillor Hazel De Nortuin narrowly missed out on winning a seat in Dublin South Central, where former PBP TD (MP) Brid Smith didn’t restand in this election.
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