Tag Archives: Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin: Diaspora has role in Ireland’s reunification

Irish republican political party Sinn Féin has released its Towards a United Ireland “discussion document” to renew debate about ending the nearly 100-year-old partition of Ireland. The party’s effort is spurred by the Brexit vote earlier this year.

The 60-page paper, in English and Irish, says the Irish diaspora has a vital role in accomplishing reunification of the island. Of note to Irish Americans, it says:

In the United States, the number of Irish and those of Irish descent numbers in the tens of millions and they enjoy significant political strength. … Many are openly supportive of a united Ireland. So, in any conversation about Irish reunification we need to involve the Irish Diaspora, to reach out to it and to marshal its political strength in support of our goals.

More on reaction to the document in a later post.

oldmap

Evolving Ireland: This 1937 map shows the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland 16 years after partition. The Republic of Ireland was created from the Free State in 1948.

 

Election drama builds in Ireland, north and south

This is an important week in Irish politics on both sides of the border.

In the Republic, negotiators from Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil continue their intensive talks on forming a new government. A key leadership vote is tentatively set for 14 April, which is 48 days since the 26 February election.

Ireland’s record for going without a government is 48 days, when a November 1992 election failed to produce a coalition pact until January 1993, according to the Associated Press. Now, if the two major parities and incoming small party and independent members fail to reach a deal soon, calls for a second election are likely to increase. That hasn’t happened since 1982.

Stormont, the Northern Ireland Assembly building in Belfast.

Stormont, the Northern Ireland Assembly building in Belfast.

In Ulster, campaigning is heating up for the 5 May Northern Ireland Assembly election, with the first debate among leaders of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Sinn Féin, Social Democratic and Labor Party (SDLP), Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the Alliance Party set for 13 April.

This is the fifth such election since the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 created the historic power-sharing legislature. Voters will cast ballots for 108 members from 18 constituencies in the six counties.

Notably, the generation born in 1998 and a few years earlier will be able to vote for the first time in this election. That could either soften or harden recent electoral trends. In a preview, the London School of Economics and Political Science observes:

In 1998, the (moderate) SDLP was the party with most votes in the Assembly, while the (moderate) UUP was the party with most seats. In the 2003 election, the (stronger pro-British) DUP took the most votes and seats, and (stronger Irish nationalist) Sinn Féin moved from being the fourth largest party, to the second largest party. In 2007 this trend consolidated, when the sum of votes for the DUP and SF reached 56%. By 2011, the DUP and SF were the undisputed largest parties in the system, leaving the SDLP, the UUP, and the Alliance significantly behind.

The northern vote not only comes on the heels of the still-unresolved election outcome in the Republic, but also ahead of the 23 June referendum on whether the U.K. (including Northern Ireland) remains in the E.U. All of which puts the lie to notions that the U.S. is the only place having interesting elections this year.

“Fresh Start” announced for Northern Ireland

The British and Irish governments have announced a new political accord to overcome various crises in Northern Ireland. The North’s two main parties,  the DUP and Sinn Féin, are backing the agreement.

The 68-page agreement, entitled A Fresh Start for Northern Ireland, follows 10 weeks of intensive negotiations. Among the highlights, the deal:

  • reduces the corporate tax rate in Northern Ireland to 12.5 percent by 2018, in line with the Republic of Ireland;
  • provides and additional £500 million to tackle issues unique to Northern Ireland, including efforts on the removal of peace walls;
  • creates new obligations for the N.I. parties to end paramilitarism, and also targets organized and cross-border crime;
  • addresses the issue of flags and parades in the future, but NOT how to deal with the past;
  • reforms the Stormont Assembly, including its size, the number of departments and the use of petitions of concern as a form of opposition.

Read the full agreement.

First-day coverage from:

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Ulster Unionists gain seats in U.K. elections

The Ulster Unionist Party picked up two seats — one from the Democratic Unionist Party, the other from Sinn Féin — among Northern Ireland races in the 7 May U.K elections. The wins return UUP representation to Westminster after a five year absence.

The DUP remains the North’s largest party, retaining eight of the 18 seats. It made up for the loss to the UUP by taking a seat from Alliance, a nonsectarian party that advocates cooperation between nationalist and unionists.

Republican Sinn Féin has four seats, the nationalist Social Democrat and Labor Party has three seats, and party independent Sylvia Hermon retained her North Down seat.

“The election in Northern Ireland began with nationalists holding eight seats and unionists 10 seats,” The Irish Times reported. “It ended with unionists gaining an extra seat from Sinn Féin leaving the overall result, 11 unionists against 7 nationalists.”

Here are full results and analysis from the BBC.

Independents, Sinn Féin win big in Irish elections

Independent and Sinn Féin candidates have surged into local offices in Ireland and appear to being gaining ground in European elections.

Some results of the 23 May elections are still being tabulated.

“Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny and his Labour Party coalition partners have suffered a huge slump in support … as voters kicked back against the long years of painful austerity measures, The Wall Street Journal reported at the weekend.

Here’s more reaction from Irish Times‘ columnist Stephen Collins:

The 2011 general election marked the end of Fianna Fáil dominance, which had lasted almost 80 years. If the [latest] local election results are the harbinger of things to come, they could mark the end of party politics as we know it. More than 40 percent of the votes in the local elections went to Independents, smaller parties and Sinn Féin, while in Dublin that trend was even stronger with over half the vote drifting away from the three parties that have dominated politics since the foundation of the State. … (T)he scale of the slump in the vote of both Coalition parties, the substantial breakthrough by Sinn Féin right across the country and the sheer scale of the swing to Independents of all hues could presage political instability on quite a scale in the years ahead.

Of 949 contested seats, 45 remained to be filled as of 26 May, according to this election summary by the Irish Independent. Here’s the summary for Kerry, where all 33 seats have been decided.

Some races are still being decided. Image from http://www.breakingnews.ie/

Some races are still being decided. Image from http://www.breakingnews.ie/