COUNTY VIEW: Dancing with Sinn Féin

As the political parties limber up for the next general election – which may come sooner than expected – the posturing will be worth watching.
The message from the Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis is that the party has pretty much ruled out the prospects of coalition with Sinn Féin. But perhaps not entirely, since any politician worth the name will never close and lock the door too tightly. (Although, if memory serves, Michael D did make a promise, the first time round, that if elected to the Aras just the once, he would not seek a second term.)
While there is general acceptance that the days of single-party government are over, Micheal Martin is quite forthright in his belief that, as far as Fianna Fáil is concerned, Sinn Féin is not the only girl in the dancehall. He will have several options to choose from when the dust settles the next time round, and a marriage of convenience with Sinn Féin will not be the only alternative on the table.
Sinn Féin, on the other hand, and even if its expectation to be the largest party in the Dail comes to pass, will need a partner, and so far, the only likely suitor seems to be the Soldiers of Destiny.
Four years ago, the Fianna Fáil leader ruled out coalition with Sinn Féin on moral grounds, but even if that element were to be discounted, there remains the fundamental question of the policy gulf between the two parties. Martin’s preference, as he himself states, is to go into government with like-minded parties who share broadly the same policy platforms, a requirement which of itself would seem to rule out a cohabitation with Sinn Féin.
It is a quandary of which Sinn Féin itself is not unaware. Sinn Féin’s popularity is due in no small measure to its role as a disrupter of the status quo. Its support basis is drawn from a cohort which despises the two main parties, which feels alienated from much of ‘middle Ireland’, and which cheers on every effort to ‘stick it’ to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. To return to the dancehall metaphor, Sinn Féin is the girl with the spiky hair and the Doc Marten boots, the outsider whose aim is to shake up the cosy consensus and upset the old order.
And therein lies the problem. Sinn Féin policies have a socialist edge which is its raison d’etre, and which is what sustains its support base. But it is a socialist edge that puts it at odds with the mainstream parties that it will need to do business with. It will require delicate footwork if it is to shed enough of its radical policies (radical by Irish standards, that is) to make it an acceptable marriage partner without alienating its core electoral following.
It has not gone unnoticed that Sinn Féin has begun to tone down some of its more strident pronouncements. Ten years ago, the party was calling for a 7 percent levy on those with income over €100,000. The campaign to penalise the rich for the benefit of the poor was in full spate. Since then, that proposal has been modified to become a 3 percent ‘solidarity’ levy on income over €140,000.
And there have been further indulgences along the way, most notably a warming of relations with the multinational sector whose goodwill Sinn Féin, if in government, will need.
Whether Sinn Féin can aspire to be, in the eyes of Fianna Fáil, a ‘like minded’ party makes for an intriguing question. But its main concern must be that the gap is so wide. And time is not on its side.