After the surprise success of Sinn Féin in the 2020 general election and their dominance within the polls in the following years, it was thought that the party was a shoe-in for a historic transfer of power and voted into government for the first time in the Republic’s history.
However within the past year, public support for Sinn Féin has consistently dropped and what was once thought to be a certain victory for the party now looks increasingly precarious.
Considering Sinn Féin’s political complexities, between the party’s polarising Republican history and their status as the only major left-wing party currently in Ireland, four students shared their perspectives of the party and the issues influencing their vote.
Leo Cox, a second year history and politics student living in Leixlip, cited Sinn Féin’s housing policies as a key reason he plans to vote for the party. He believes that Sinn Féin is “focused on housing the poorest rather than focusing on simply placating US corporate interests”.
“I feel that Sinn Féin really represents, in its formation of a housing corporation, a new opportunity for young people to define the social policy of Ireland going forward and the kind of nation and economy they want”.
Cox further argued that the housing crisis has been caused by government policy being too focused on property ownership and its failure to prioritise the building of social housing
“This nation’s politics has been dominated almost forever by an attitude of land tenant ownership that’s been present since the early land reforms of England, right? That’s ingrained a culture and consciousness of land ownership and property ownership being the ultimate goal of all social policy, rather than simply housing people, getting them into houses and for whatever means necessary. In particular, there’s always been a particular deniability of social housing’s effectiveness and that’s inevitably led to a housing crisis”
Joey Gillen, a third year philosophy and English student, praised the party’s proposed policy of a nationwide rent freeze.
“There’s not really anyone that’s not going to benefit, freezing is not the same as lowering like, even landlords can’t really complain about rent freeze because you’re already charging an extortionate amount and it’ll just stay that amount”.
Gillen, who is from the border town Carlingford in Northern Louth also said that he believes that “Sinn Féin is viewed a lot differently in Dublin and down South” than at home.
“They’re almost seen as a new political party that’s on the up and up, but they’ve been around for a very long time. I’ve talked to parents of people I know from Dublin and they would say to me, either they don’t trust [Sinn Féin], or they don’t think they’re gonna back up what they say in the first place.”
Gillen believes that this distrust partially stems from the party’s involvement in the Troubles but he says people “should realise the extent of the good Sinn Féin have done, especially in the North”.
“[Sinn Féin’s] separating of violence and politics and just becoming a political force instead of just a violent force is inherently what secured peace in the North. For those who aren’t from the North and don’t have family from the North, I don’t know that they necessarily understand the value of that.” he continued.
However the party’s stance regarding immigration was a common point of criticism amongst the students, with the concern of immigration and the growing anti-immigrant rhetoric within Ireland’s political landscape being a considerable blow to Sinn Féin’s dominating popularity within the last year.
The party stands at a precarious crossroads where they risk alienating a potentially significant nationalist, anti-establishment cohort of their voter base if they take a stance that defends the country’s current immigration policies but they risk losing their newer, more progressive voters if they are seen to be feeding into the rise of anti immigrant protests across Ireland, which have been stoked within right-wing online circles.
Cox believes that Sinn Féin needs to “distance themselves” from the “culture war” narrative of the right-wing National Party but discussions about immigration need to be had.
“A mature, adult conversation has to be had on immigration and how Ireland’s role will fit into the inevitable next century of climate change, of massive growth of international movements of populations. If we can’t house immigrants, if we can’t actually give them proper lives, we’re literally just bringing them here to suffer, and bringing them here to give right wing parties and nationalist populist parties more ammunition in the future” the second year student added.
Adam Feerick, a postgraduate student from Killester in North Dublin, says he will be voting for Sinn Féin candidates despite them “not being his favourite party”, as he would like to see a change in government.
“What’s kind of pushing me to vote for [Sinn Féin] is they’re the best chance that we have of getting at least one of the major parties out of government, preferably both, because I don’t see a future here for myself. I don’t see a future here for my siblings, a lot of my friends. I’m 21 and a lot of my friends are already in Australia. And at this point, I’m kind of thinking, what more do I actually have left to lose? Like, why not give them a shot?”
“In terms of immigration, I find it quite worrying how quickly they kind of flip flopped between the very kind of open and accepting to suddenly like, no, we need to register everyone. They’re trying to introduce a registering system even for EU citizens, which they also can’t legally make EU citizens pay for. So therefore we as taxpayers are going to pay for that if it’s introduced. That does worry me, especially, as anti immigration and the far right is rising,” said Feerick
A student from Fermanagh in Northern Ireland, who chose to remain anonymous, similarly suggested that people will gravitate towards Sinn Féin due to discontent with the current government.
“Support for Sinn Féin has almost been like marmite, or diametric, you love them or you hate them. From my own perception, which will of course not be representative at all, it looks like people don’t necessarily fully endorse Sinn Féin, but maybe don’t like the current state of affairs so prefer that Sinn Féin aren’t the status quo.” she stated.
Polling published recently in the Sunday Independent showed support for Sinn Féin to be 20%, matching Fianna Fáil while remaining just behind Fine Gael with 22%. It is currently unlikely that they will attain the majority of seats that they require to form a coalition government without Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael, with the former’s party leader, Micheál Martin, having already ruled out a possible coalition with Sinn Féin.
