Support for Sinn Féin continues to grow in the southern Irish state. In a poll commissioned for the Irish edition of The Sunday Times Sinn Féin is now standing at 25%, making it the second most popular party, with Gerry Adams now the most popular party leader in the country.

Sinn Féin seminar: Economic Crisis - lessons from Ireland

8pm Tuesday 28 February

Boothroyd Room, Portcullis House, House of Commons, London SW1
(Westminster Tube)

Speakers:
Mary Lou McDonald TD, Vice President Sinn Féin
Pat Doherty MP.

By Frances Davis

Almost one year on from the general election in the southern Irish state, which saw the crushing defeat of the Fianna Fáil government and the election of a Fine Gael/Labour coalition, the Irish economy remains in deep crisis. Implementing the same austerity policies as the previous government, the devastating impact on living standards continues, in parallel to the effect of similar Tory policies in Britain.

By Frances Davis

Sinn Féin held its Ard Fheis (Annual conference) over 9-10 September. Described as ‘a conference of firsts’, it was indeed the first time the event had taken place in Belfast at the prestigious Waterfront Hall. The rising confidence and strength of the party was evident, reflected in the breadth of speakers and policies over the two days, and laid out in both keynote speeches of party president Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness. Vice President Mary Lou McDonald gave the perspective for ‘reuniting Ireland’.

By Frances Davis

This week, as Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams’ announced the party’s new Ministerial Assembly team, the party emerged from the fourth consecutive election this year which has seen Sinn Féin’s vote steadily rise – north and south of the border. The 5 May Assembly and council elections in the six counties saw a continuation of a trend in the north – that of an increase in support for Sinn Féin, and of endorsement for the Good Friday Agreement.

Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Féin and elected to the Dáil in the recent Irish elections, draws out the historic turn in the politics of Ireland marked by the 1981 hunger strike and the elections of hunger strikers Bobby Sands (to the Westminster Parliament) and Ciaran Doherty and Paddy Agnew (to the Dublin Dáil). He draws out how this period marked a turn in the politics of Ireland on both sides of the border and shaped the subsequent three decades of Irish politics. The article orginally appeared on his blog.

By Frances Davis

The 2011 Dáil election last Friday represents one of the most significant political shifts in the 26-county state for over nine decades. As Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams said, it potentially represents ‘the beginning of a realignment of Irish politics’. He also pointed out that, while the outcome is likely to be Fine Gael and Labour implementing Fianna Fáil policies – one right wing government replaced by another one – an examination of the results reveal a more fundamental change. This is the beginning of the break-up of the post-civil war political domination by Fianna Fáil (FF) and Fine Gael (FG) and in fact some significant move to the left – most notably the dramatic rise in support for Sinn Féin and their consolidation as a significant party in the south, potentially the leading opposition voice in the coming Dáil.

By Frances Davis

Photo lusciousblopster

Sinn Féin’s stunning victory in the Donegal South West parliamentary by-election on 25 November represents a huge advance in what was the first electoral test for the Dublin government since the sharp deepening of the state’s economic crisis. Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty saw his party’s vote soar from 21 per cent at the last general election in 2007 to 40 per cent of first preference votes. In a reversal of previous showings, Sinn Féin also won an increasing share of the transfers from the eliminated candidates.

Sinn Féin offers a better way

By Nicky Dempsey

Sinn Féin has published its response to the Dublin government’s threatened plans to cut public spending once more in its Budget for 2011, There Is A Better Way. The Fianna Fail/ Green coalition in government has outlined planned further cuts totalling €6bn in both capital and current spending, including welfare payments to the poor. This would bring the total level of ‘fiscal tightening’ to €20.6bn since the end of 2008, which is now equivalent to 13.1% of GDP. For comparison the British government’s current plans – among the most draconian of any major European country – amount to 9.2% of GDP.