Sinn Fein: We want united Ireland poll in 5 years

A VOTE on a united Ireland within five years is Sinn Fein’s price for coalition talks, it revealed yesterday, after the party secured a historic result at the ballot box.

The Left-wing Republican party sparked a political earthquake after romping home with the biggest share of the popular vote in Saturday’s national poll, making huge and unexpected gains across the country.

After all first preferences were counted, the party took around 24.5 per cent of votes – almost double its share at the last election in 2016. The Fianna Fail and Fine Gael parties, which have dominated a two-party system, were left lagging on 22 per cent and 21 per cent respectively.

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald hailed the upset as a ‘ballot-box revolution’, adding: ‘The two-party system in this country is now broken.’ It also meant the incumbent Irish premier and leader of Fine Gael, Leo Varadkar was on the verge of being turfed from office. The three-way split means no one party will have enough seats for an outright majority, with potentially months of power-sharing talks ahead.

But due to the historic shift, focus yesterday turned to the question of a united Ireland – a long held aim of Sinn Fein.

Yesterday the party, long considered toxic for its historic IRA links, insisted it must be part of any coalition and vowed to push for a reunification poll within five years.

Michelle O’Neill, Sinn Fein’s vice-president and Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister, said: ‘We want to be in government north and south. Our objective is to deliver in health, housing and public services. And our objective is to unite this island.’

Experts said Sinn Fein had successfully ridden a wave of anger over perceived austerity and crises in housing and health.

The party has gradually increased its votes in every general election since 2007 by going from a single-issue party on reunification to advocating a range of Left-wing policies. Memories of its links with the IRA have also faded among younger voters.

Sinn Fein has begun contacting smaller parties and independents to try to form a Left-wing coalition. But it is still likely to fall shy of the 80 seats needed to form a government and could be forced to look to one of the traditional centre-right parties.

Mr Varadkar has ruled out any powersharing deal due to Sinn Fein’s history. But Fianna Fail leader, Micheál Martin, has expressed interest.