Although the Sinn Féin leadership – backed by an efficient press office and disciplinary process that brooks little dissent – is pivoting markedly on immigration and other issues, it appears the new line is not being universally accepted internally.
While Mary Lou and others such as Cork South Central TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire are enthusiastically tooting on the For Roysh “dog whistle” of “ no open borders” Gript has it on good authority that quite a number of prominent members including sitting TDs, Senators, MLAs and several candidates for the European and local elections are far from happy.
Their unease with the shift is mostly being expressed in private or by their not speaking on the relevant issues, but some of the dissatisfaction is being expressed through social media. Unsurprisingly, much of this has been through staff in Leinster House who it is fair to say are the cohort most at odds with the views of Sinn Féin supporters on immigration, and indeed on other issues dear to the soft and not-so-soft left who dominate the ideological sphere within Sinn Féin.
Public protests on the government’s immigration policies have created difficulties for Sinn Féin as their local elected representatives and candidates can not be seen at them. Firstly, if they do turn up they are generally badly received by people they have until recent weeks and for several years smeared as “racists” and “fash.” Secondly, because to do so would identify them with one side and thus risk losing part of their vote that comes from the liberal left.
Richard Gallagher who is an advisor to Donegal Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty took to Twitter yesterday to describe the entirely peaceful protestors at Newtownmountkennedy on Sunday as “far-right racist thugs”.
It is difficult to imagine that Pearse would either say such a thing himself about protestors in Donegal, and one wonders if he is overly happy that his advisor is sharing this view of potential, and more than likely actual, Sinn Féin voters with the world at large.
Senator Niall Ó Donnghaile is another who is not only displeased with the people of Newtownmountkennedy – who he knows to be “fascists, racists and bigots” – but sees in it all some bizarre connection with the Spanish Civil War. #NoPasaran. Seriously, what is all that about? Infantilism or just silliness? Make up your own mind.
Others to take to the Twittersphere to condemn the Newtownmountkennedy protestors are Dublin European Parliament candidate Lynn Boylan who retweeted a post calling for arrests, including it would seem of rival election candidates.
Boylan would be another who inhabits the strange world of retro 1930s “anti-fascism” although the concept of what potentially constitutes “fash” has evolved somewhat from lads who fought for Franco as opposed to Stalin to include not only working class and rural Wicklow people and Dubs in East Wall and Finglas whose votes she is now seeking but even left feminists, or “TERFs”, who believe in biological rather than notional sex and gender.
It is also noticeable that Sinn Féin TDs are placing more Parliamentary Questions which can be relayed back to constituents as evidence of their concern over issues including even the accommodation of Ukrainians who have been granted Temporary Protection.
The trick of course is to be able to play the part of Tadhg a dhá thaobh; speaking out of both sides of your mouth, riding two horses. Some of them are very good at this, but it is difficult especially when you are appealing to a large number of voters who are clearly as divided on key issues such as immigration, and indeed the recent referendums and the “hate speech” legislation as Party staff.
Sinn Féin’s problem is that its public stance over the last many years has been the opposite to that of quite a considerable number of its own voters. Which is not generally an insurmountable problem for any opportunistic party – that’s most of them by the way – as you just say what you think your voters wish you to say.
Which is Sinn Féin’s latest gambit. The difficulty with that, however, is that a large number – certainly the majority of staffers and party officials – of key people including elected representatives are genuinely and strongly committed to the opposite view. They are left liberals for whom “open borders” and “diversity” and “multiculturalism” are as central to their worldview as Irish unity and sovereignty and opposition to British rule in Ireland once were for prominent republicans.
The party machine can handle this for the moment as they can tell people to “shut up” or even “get the fuck out” as they did to republicans who dissented over Sinn Féin’s whole hearted acceptance of abortion on demand and administering Partition through Stormont. The shock troops for that being the very same faction now at odds with the “core group” of unelected apparatchiks enforcing the immigration pivot.
This will not be possible to manage in the long term, and perhaps not even in the short term which includes the June elections. How they go will be crucial in resolving or aggravating the internal party tensions.
Of course, the two main parties are as clueless in recognising Sinn Féin’s weaknesses as they were in 2020 when rabbiting on about historical events and worse, having a Minister sing the praises of the gentle Black and Tans. In attacking the Shinners as “far right” because of their immigration pivot they are shoring up their core vote.