Calling The Shots
New book looks at the shadowy figures behind the rise of Sinn Féin and documents claims of bullying and intimidation within the party, writes
Aoife Moore’s book The Long Game: Inside Sinn Féin is a racy account of the party’s transition from cheerleader for a violent armed campaign by the IRA to the status of becoming the largest political party on both sides of the Irish border.
Moore can be congratulated for delving into the good, the bad and the ugly of the IRA-Sinn Féin nexus with its frequent resort to murder, vicious punishment beatings and bare-faced lying. This denial of formal access by Sinn Féin has not harmed the book and arguably has strengthened Moore’s narrative. The off-the-record and anonymous quotes provided by insiders lend credibility to the view that Sinn Féin has still not severed its link to the secretive and subversive operatives of the IRA.
Moore details how elected MLAs at the Stormont Assembly and members of the Dáil have been forced to surrender their salaries for the benefit of the party. A private research company north of the border became the beneficiary of expenses claimed by the party for its elected members. There was no evidence of the research performed by the company, which was swiftly closed down once it became a subject of public scrutiny.
The control and direction of elected members by staff and figures outside the parliamentary system itself is nothing new. For most of its lifespan, the Workers Party was directed by its general secretary Sean Garland, much to the frustration of its Dáil deputies, most of whom quit the revolutionary socialist party to join the more democratic and centrist Labour Party. The suggestion in Sinn Féin’s case is that shadowy figures from the IRA’s Army Council still call the shots when it comes to major decisions.
Sinn Féin is evolving in a more mainstream fashion while avoiding a fissure in its ranks. Moore documents how this obsession with unity and discipline has led to multiple allegations by elected councillors that they were being bullied, intimidated – and in one case assaulted – with little or no action from head office to protect them. Many of these councillors resigned rather than put up with further harassment.
The Long Game details the recruitment of Jonathan Dowdall and his elevation to the role of councillor in the Dublin Central constituency of party leader Mary Lou McDonald. Dowdall, as it turned out, was wellconnected to Dublin criminal gangs, and he and his father were convicted of water-boarding and kidnapping an individual. Sinn Féin distanced itself from Dowdall long before his conviction, and such unfortunate associations have not deterred the party’s upward trajectory.
Opinion polls over the past two years point to Sinn Féin voter support in the early to mid30s in percentage terms, which is ten points and more ahead of government partners Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. However, SF’s poll numbers have softened recently, particularly among younger voters.
Fine Gael continues to rule out forming a government with Sinn Féin. Fianna Fáil is not quite so dismissive but insists the parties’ economic policies are incompatible. Alongside the ritual denunciation of government policies on housing and health, Sinn Féin has been assuring business that their policies will not result in punitive levels of taxation, though for high earners it would be a different story.