The Politics Fix

Sinn Féin suffers another terrible week as election speculation hits fever pitch

Your essential end-of-week politics catch-up

Former Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley and party leader Mary Lou McDonald.
Former Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley and party leader Mary Lou McDonald. Illustration: Paul Scott
Pat Leahy's picture
Pat Leahy
Fri Oct 18 2024 - 15:44

Story of the week

Only one contender here. The week was dominated by the avalanche of scandals that have landed on Sinn Féin. They made front page headlines every day this week – and not the sort of headlines that Sinn Féin wants to see. Just weeks before an election – more on that later – the party is in the midst of a deep crisis.

Sinn Féin had been struggling with one major scandal for weeks – the story of how its former press officer, who would plead guilty to child sex offences in Belfast, was given references by two then senior party figures and would later go on to turn up at events in Stormont where nobody would notice him at all. That was bad enough.

Then, late last week, the party was hit by a triple whammy of news controversies. Kildare TD Patricia Ryan resigned, with local party members revealing that they had been told not to ask negative questions of Mary Lou McDonald at a party event. The Irish Independent then revealed on Saturday that a senior party figure had sent “inappropriate” texts to a 17-year-old party member. And before people could get their heads around that, another bombshell landed on Saturday night – Laois TD and chairman of the powerful Public Accounts Committee Brian Stanley issued a statement saying he was resigning from the party after he had been subjected to a “kangaroo court”-style internal inquiry at the behest “of a certain clique within the party [who] have gone to extreme lengths to damage my reputation and character”.

On Monday, The Irish Times revealed that the Sinn Féin inquiry, having heard the evidence, was preparing to make a finding of “gross misconduct” against Stanley. In the Dáil on Tuesday, in the course of a combative performance, party leader Mary Lou McDonald described the allegations against Stanley as “very serious ... and relates to Deputy Stanley’s personal behaviour, leaving the complainant, in her words, ‘traumatised and distressed’”. Stanley declined to elaborate on the complaint but accused McDonald of abusing Dáil privilege. The party said it had referred the entire matter to gardaí, including a “counter-allegation” by Stanley, prompting questions about why it had not done so before now.

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Meanwhile, the party revealed that the “Shinner texter”, as he had become known, was its former Seanad leader Niall Ó Donnghaile – who resigned from his post last year because of “ill health”, with nary a mention of dodgy texts, and with a glowing tribute from McDonald ringing in his ears. Asked by the Tánaiste why she had issued such an apparently misleading statement on Ó Donnghaile’s resignation, McDonald pointed to concerns about Ó Donnghaile’s mental health and his safety.

All in all, not a great week for Sinn Féin, you could fairly say.

Bust Up

Well, there’s a few contenders here. First it was Patricia Ryan and Sinn Féin. Then it was Brian Stanley and Sinn Féin. Then it was Niall Ó Donnghaile and Sinn Féin. You get the picture.

Banana Skin

The other big news of the week was that Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has managed to overcome his reluctance to have a general election this year. While previously Martin had been given to suggesting that next February would be ideal for an election, something – could it possibly be the events detailed above? – has changed his mind and he now acknowledges that maybe a election before Christmas might be alright after all.

He told The Irish Times Inside Politics podcast on Wednesday that provided certain vital legislation – he cited the Finance Bill for one – could be passed through the Oireachtas, then he would have no objection to going to the country this year. The date on everyone’s lips is November 29th.

Will the general election be a banana skin for Martin? Or for Simon Harris? Or Mary Lou McDonald? One thing is for sure: it’ll be a banana skin for someone.

Winners and Losers

No two ways of looking at this: the winners were Sinn Féin’s opponents and the losers were Sinn Féin. Also winners were the mortgage payers who will see their monthly repayments fall after another rates cut by the European Central Bank. Analysts now expect the trend of rate cuts to continue, perhaps until the middle of next year. These things sometimes have a greater long-term political impact than all the scandals you can think of.

Big Read

Plenty on the Sinn Féin woes to chew on in tomorrow’s paper. There’s a weekend piece on Mary Lou’s annus horribilis and Cormac McQuinn goes to Laois to gauge reaction on the ground to Brian Stanley’s resignation.

Hear Here

Will Sinn Féin’s many controversies cut through to their base?

Listen | 39:50