Sinn Fein sees support rising
Outsider party makes push for power in Ireland politics
DUBLIN — Irish voters are choosing their next prime minister in an election where opinion polls show Sinn Fein in a virtual dead heat with the two parties that have dominated Irish politics since independence — Prime Minister Leo Varadkar’s Fine Gael and the opposition Fianna Fail.
Surging support for Sinn Fein, which is committed to the reunification of Ireland, threatens the country’s political equilibrium even though the party is unlikely to form the next government because both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail refuse to work with it.
While Sinn Fein is a major force in the U.K. region of Northern Ireland, where it is part of the power-sharing government that helped end decades of sectarian violence, it has long been a minor player south of the border in the Republic. But the party is now attracting voters with leftwing proposals for tackling Ireland’s housing crisis and bolstering the nation’s health care system.
Support for the traditionally dominant parties has fallen since the 2008 financial crisis, which hit Ireland’s debt-fueled “Celtic Tiger” economy particularly hard. Ireland was pushed to the brink of bankruptcy and forced to seek an international bailout that was followed by years of austerity.
Varadkar, the country’s first openly gay leader, became prime minister in 2017 after the resignation of his predecessor. His party has governed Ireland since 2011, first in coalition with the smaller Labor Party and since 2016 as the leader of a minority administration with the tacit support of Fianna Fail.
The current campaign was dominated by domestic problems, especially a growing homelessness crisis, house prices that have risen faster than incomes and a public health system that hasn’t kept up with demand.
Both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail say they will build more houses, ease hospital overcrowding and cut waiting times for medical treatment. Sinn Fein offers a plan to raise taxes on the wealthy, freeze rents, build tens of thousands of new homes and lower the state pension age.
The focus on domestic issues has overshadowed Varadkar’s greatest success: protecting Irish interests during negotiations over Britain’s departure from the European Union.
Varadkar, 41, was the face of Ireland during the talks, which were crucial to Ireland because it is the only EU country that shares a land border with the U.K. While most people applaud his success in securing guarantees that people and goods will continue to flow freely between Ireland and the north, the prime minister has had difficulty persuading voters that he needs another term in office to cement those gains in the next round of talks with Britain.
Sinn Fein’s links with the IRA, which disarmed after the 1998 peace accord in Northern Ireland, became an issue late in the election. The mother of a Northern Ireland man who was beaten to death in 2007 accused party members of slandering her son as a criminal and failing to reveal what they knew about his death.
Sinn Fein denied Irish republicans were involved in the killing, but the party was put on the defensive.