Tumultuous week’s events gave Sinn Féin political cover – but things did not go quite to plan
APPROPRIATELY, for a week of political tumult which overlapped Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the world of commerce, Sinn Féin was very much in ‘two for the price of one’ mode.
In deciding to go for Fine Gael head-on with a motion of no-confidence in the now former Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald, it was pursuing its well-established practice of also having a good go at Fianna Fáil.
Micheál Martin’s party’s half-in/half-out of government position makes it permanently vulnerable to this Sinn Féin bid to become the “real opposition”. It is always good for Sinn Féin to goad Fianna Fáil and hope that it can hit home to its staunch supporters.
Gerry Adams’s party, which is soon to be Mary Lou McDonald’s party, has deployed this stratagem more often since the current minority Coalition took office on May 6, 2016. It looked good as it gave it another whirl last Wednesday evening as it signalled its no-confidence motion in Ms Fitzgerald.
It has been noted Ms McDonald’s imminent accession to party leadership gave an even sharper focus to Mr Martin’s response. He had given Fine Gael “a free pass” last February in comparable circumstances and he could not afford to pass again.
Right back next day came the self-same signal from Fianna Fáil. Sinn Féin’s first ‘two for the price of one’ hit the spot.
But there was less remark about its second. The pell-mell rush towards a snap election allowed Ms McDonald’s continued leadership anointment process be moved forward another pace or two.
Sinn Féin announced that Ms McDonald would be “de facto leader” for the duration of any election campaign which might emerge from the Dáil tumult. Just like the successful appointment of Michelle O’Neill (right) as party leader in the North on January 23 last, to succeed the ailing Martin McGuinness, there will be no need for any leadership election for the big job of successor to an exiting Mr Adams. Democratic Sinn Féin goes further into ‘do-as-I-say’ mode. Just as Mr Adams has led the party for 34 full years, the non-contest to succeed him is over even before it started.
There is just nobody who is a patch on Ms McDonald. That is not normal politics as practiced elsewhere. What ever happened to this 32-county party bursting with talent?
The other element of that second ‘two-for-the-price-ofone’ was the party yet again spurning efforts to put together a power-sharing executive in the North. There was limited media attention paid to this continuing 11-month stalemate amid a time of imminent Brexit peril and increasingly pressing issues the basics of health, housing, education and the in economy in Northern Ireland.
Ms O’Neill simply said there was “no basis” for resuming power-sharing talks at the moment. It allowed Democratic Unionist Party MLA Simon Hamilton to suggest that Sinn Féin had “checked out of politics” in the North.
Yes, definitely, the DUP has some cheek coming out with comments like that. It is definitely a case of kettle, pot and black.
But politics is exactly about getting over problems like these deadlocked ones. It is done through hours and hours of trying to forge deals where initially no deal appears possible.
Witness the hours expended by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin in the past week. An election appeared inevitable, but it was averted.
It is simply criminal of both Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party not to be busy deal-making about Irish language recognition, marriage equality, and legacy issues from the past.
The sloganising and moral high ground taking by both parties is nauseating. But Sinn Féin’s culpability in this matter often washes over people in the Republic as a by-product of partition.
It is beyond doubt that most of the politicians at Leinster House were putting party and personal election ahead of any concept of national interest this past week. If they were not doing that there would have been no question of allowing a situation where a general election in Christmas week would have become a real prospect.
If the national interest really was a primary concern there would have been no question of a general election campaign straddling an EU leaders’ summit which will make key Irish decisions on Brexit and the Irish Border.
So, Sinn Féin was far from the only one playing at less than
wholesome political antics. The point is that its political gamesmanship remained hidden in plain view for long periods.
The main focus was on Fine Gael and Mr Varadkar’s primary role in defending Ms Fitzgerald. The only slightly secondary focus was on how Fianna Fáil and Mr Martin were caught in a real bind.
The issues which were at the heart of the controversy were of singular importance. Reform of An Garda Síochána and the Department of Justice, and justice for Sgt Maurice McCabe, are major concerns. But they would not be helped one whit by a snap election.
The great irony of the week’s events from Sinn Féin’s standpoint was that it really did not work out for them.
Let’s stay with the crude political gamesmanship which characterised these events and call the outcome just in those terms.
So, who was the biggest winner amid it all?
Well, it was none other than Micheál Martin, whose dogged persistence ousted Ms Fitzgerald. In the process, he calmed his own party membership and managed to enhance his own national standing.
Anyone in doubt need only recall the contrasting Dáil performances of Mr Martin and Ms McDonald at the first debate on the outcome yesterday afternoon. He managed to insert some grace into his contribution while she, as per usual, just went for the jugular.
Things had not gone to plan for Sinn Féin.
Sinn Féin is still bidding to become the ‘real opposition’