Liam Clarke: Uphill task for Sinn Fein in EU election

[pete2]

..Sinn Fein has shown a similar reluctance to put De Brun up against Alban Maginness [in a debate similar to the proposed DUP - TUV debate], the SDLP candidate and barrister. With eyes on the 31,000-vote gap that separates the party from the DUP, Sinn Fein will hope the unionist vote is split and it will be able to eat into the 87,559 votes secured last time by the SDLP.

It would be a big psychological victory and Sinn Fein election workers will be playing it up in order to motivate voters... in many ways [the north], where De Brun’s seat is safe, is the least of the party’s worries. In the republic it could end up with no seats at all...

Its only other realistic hope is Ireland North West, where Padraig Mac Lochlainn, a Donegal councillor, is a strong candidate. In the general election he and Pearse Doherty, from north Donegal, both narrowly missed out on Dail seats. This time Mac Lochlainn could benefit from Fianna Fail’s low poll ratings and take the last seat.

In the 2007 general election, in which McDonald failed to gain a Dail seat, Sinn Fein poured in workers from west Belfast and Antrim to canvass areas of core support. Dublin Sinn Fein members were sent to middle-class areas where the party hoped to attract new support. The feedback they got, outlined in an internal party report, was that northern voices were a turn-off and many of the canvassers were not well enough versed in Dublin politics to answer questions on the doorsteps. Even in Sinn Fein’s areas of strength, partitionism is alive and well..

Liam Clarke: Uphill task for Sinn Fein in EU election - Times Online

[factual]

Liam Clarke: Uphill task for Sinn Fein in EU election - Times Online

There are certainly challenges.

Yes, MLM's seat in Dublin Central is not a cert. It will take a lot of work, and I hope it will pay off. Hard to call but lets hope FF's support falls enough to return Mary Lou to Brussels/Strasbourg.

As for North West that depends on a number of variables. But here FF's support could fall enough to let SF in.

So its not all doom and gloom.

[jdaly]

There are certainly challenges.

Yes, MLM's seat in Dublin Central is not a cert. It will take a lot of work, and I hope it will pay off. Hard to call but lets hope FF's support falls enough to return Mary Lou to Brussels/Strasbourg.

As for North West that depends on a number of variables. But here FF's support could fall enough to let SF in.

So its not all doom and gloom.

It's certainly going to be extremly interesting right up to the last votes are counted.