Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has acknowledged that there are several different possible reasons for her party’s recent declining fortunes. But it is clear that one of them is the gap which has opened up between Sinn Féin and its electoral base over the issue of refugee accommodation. \on Tuesday, the party moved to close that gap by publishing its new policy on the international temporary protection system. Whether it is successful in that objective remains to be seen, but the document represents a significant strategic shift, rhetorically at least.
The new approach attaches more weight to the needs and circumstances of the specific communities where refugee accommodation is proposed. A more extensive consultation and an audit of services and infrastructure would be carried out in advance of any such proposal to ensure local services are not overwhelmed. Efforts would be made to avoid locating centres in areas of economic or social disadvantage.
Sinn Féin also seeks an end to the reliance on private accommodation providers s and their replacement by a network of state-run centres. In this, the party is broadly in line with the Government’s stated objectives, although it implies that it would act faster if given the opportunity.
State agencies have been on the back foot for the last two years as they struggled to cope, first with the arrival of 100,000 Ukrainians under the EU’s Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) and then with a steep rise in the number of applicants for international temporary protection. If the TPD comes to an end, as seems likely, in early 2026, Sinn Féin believes that Ukrainians should be treated as international temporary protection applicants. This will probably happen regardless of who is in government.
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The party proposes to treble staff across the system in order to streamline processing of applications, and to follow up on deportation orders “to ensure that those not eligible for international protection actually leave”.
The proposals represent a balancing act between Sinn Féin’s traditional presentation of itself as a progressive, anti-racist party and the reality that many of its supporters wish to see a harder line taken on issues such as processing of applications and quicker deportations. The core of the policy, though, is the question of local consultation and the proposed community audits. There is a perception that marginalised communities are taking more than their fair share of refugee accommodation, so a nationwide audit could help to confirm whether that is true. But it is easy to foresee a situation where local Sinn Féin representatives can use the new policy as cover for blanket opposition to refugee accommodation anywhere in the country. That would be a useful, if cynical, defensive ploy against threats to the party from its right flank at the next election.