SF: Anti-coalition demo has nothing to do with us
Protesters to march in Dublin next month opposing FF-FG pact
SINN Féin has distanced itself from a planned protest against a Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael coalition next weekend.
The ‘Stop The FG/FF Stitch Up – March for Real Change’ demonstration is scheduled for Saturday, March 7, at the Garden of Remembrance in the capital, with almost 1,000 people indicating on social media that they will attend.
‘After an historic election, where the tired old parties lost their grip on Irish politics, there is a massive demand for change,’ the organisers wrote. ‘The call for an alternative to Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil is growing ever louder and the forces of change are beginning to unite.’
While no party was directly linked to the Facebook page advertising the event, it has been
‘We don’t want FF and FG in power’
heavily promoted by members of Solidarity-People Before Profit.
Bríd Smith, TD for SolidarityPBP, told the Irish Daily Mail the protest was called following a meeting of ‘wide-ranging groups’ that she organised at the Teachers Club in Dublin last Saturday, including homelessness activists, farmers, retirement groups, Bord na Móna workers and climate action organisations.
‘Neither of the two parties have the majority of the vote... Democracies should reflect the will of the people and it’s clear that they want change,’ she said. ‘We do need a government that will implement real change in areas such as health and housing.’
Dismissing claims that the protest was anti-democratic, the TD added: ‘We don’t want to see Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in power. The groups that are concerned and want to express a desire for change, they’re hoping that they can see change.
‘The march is reflecting the demand for change, the issues that people are angry about.
Deputy Smith said Sinn Féin has already been contacted about the protest and further talks are planned with the party this week.
But Pearse Doherty, Sinn Féin’s finance spokesperson and a member of its negotiating team, yesterday said: ‘I know nothing about any type of protest on March 7.
‘Our focus is to get a programme for government, a government for change to engage with the public, to engage with our own supporters…
‘We’re not planning any protests right now there because we don’t want to be protesting. We want to be a part of the next government.
‘We are very ambitious in terms of the type of change that is possible over the next five years, and we want to form a stable government that gives voice to the mandate, and that so many of us, in Sinn Féin but also other deputies who have been elected to the 33rd Dail, have been given also.’
At Sinn Féin’s first public rally in Cork on Monday, Solidarity-PBP TD Mick Barry called on party members to take to the streets in the event of a Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael-led government.