“Compared to where it was ten years ago Sinn Féin has made remarkable progress. That it is now, in terms of seats, the second largest party in parliament would have been unimagined a few years ago.”
By Geoffrey Bell
The final tally of seats for the top three in the Irish general election was Fianna Fáil 48, Sinn Féin 39 and Fine Gael 38. There were, however, different winners than any of these three. One was Ms/Mr Apathy. That non-candidate received twice as much support as any of the top three: just under 60 percent bothered to vote.
The other winner, though not as apparent, was the advocacy of Irish unity. But before that is explained some, more general, background is useful.
The roots of both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael illustrate the permanent effect the British-imposed Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 continues to have on Irish politics. The Treaty outlined the conditions Britain placed on giving the Irish a limited form of self-government at the end of the 1919-21 War of Independence. These included instituting the partition of Ireland, the northern parliament remaining subservient to the British, members of the southern Irish parliament declaring an oath of allegiance to the British monarch, and allowing British access to Irish ports.
The southern Irish split over these terms, with what became Fianna Fáil rejecting the Treaty and what became Fine Gael accepting it. A civil war followed with the pro-Treaty side emerging victorious.
The restrictions placed on sovereignty in the southern state have been long since overturned. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have also evolved to the extent that both can now be classed as “centre-right” parties, and accordingly find it easy to co-exist in coalition governments – the most likely outcome of the latest election. And yet traditional political loyalties linger among many in the electorate: the bitter civil war remains in the collective memory bank of generations since that conflict. Accordingly, neither of the two parties who have dominated Irish politics can be easily swept aside.
There is no doubt that Sinn Féin, which can now be classed as left social democratic, is making progress in doing that. It is true the party suffered a decline in popularity, compared to where it was in opinion polls a year ago. That may be in part because of its uncertainty and somewhat contradictory attitudes towards the immigration issue.
Nevertheless, compared to where it was ten years ago Sinn Féin has made remarkable progress. That it is now, in terms of seats, the second largest party in the Irish parliament would have been unimagined a few years ago. It is also true that other leftist parties made gains in the election. Most notably the Irish Labour Party which increased its seats from six to nine.
As to the growth in apathy in the election, that can be interpreted as disillusionment with all the main parties, but it can also be seen as evidence that there are people out there looking for a lead: that despite the continued traditional appeal of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael those old loyalties are being questioned more than ever.
Where then do aspirations for the reunification of Ireland – to right the final outstanding crime of the Treaty – fit into all of this?
It is true that Irish unity did not feature in the election: even Sinn Féin does not appear to have regarded it as such a vote winner that it could place its championing of that cause to the forefront of its campaign: instead, the issues of housing and health were, quite rightly, prominent.
But there is also the argument that the cause of Irish unity significantly advanced in the course of the election and before it. This has been pointed out in a commentary by historian Brian Feeney in the Irish News, Belfast’s daily pro-nationalist newspaper. He noted that: “What went largely unreported is that for the first time all the major parties produced manifestos with sections on the north [of Ireland] devoted to Irish unity (…) an indication of the growing discussion about reunification since Brexit and the dwindling electoral fortunes of unionism.”
Feeney went on to record that even Fine Gael, the original pro-Treaty party, stated that unity should be “an objective rather than an aspiration.” As to Fianna Fáil, who are likely to be the largest party in the new government, Feeney also reported that it said unity “remains a founding value and objective”, thus harking back to its anti-Treaty roots. It even promised two to three million Euros to promote a “Shared-Island Agenda”.
Feeney concluded: “What is important is that all the parties felt obliged to address reunification as an objective: that’s a first.”
This shared objective and these promises are a consequence not just of the prominence Sinn Féin has given the unity goal over the years, but importantly the work of organisations such as Ireland’s Future, who have promoted the unity debate in Ireland, north and south. That cause is today not the property of one political party but of many. And that is a worthy winner for any Irish election.
- Geoff Bell is a regular contributor to Labour Outlook. His most recent book is The Twilight of Unionism (Verso). He is on the executive of Labour for Irish Unity.
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