Can Sinn Fein Recover

[Col]

Look at places like Meath East, Donegal South West, Waterford, etc, these are places that Sinn Féin were close to taking last time. Support has remained static in these places or declined even.

That's not true. The vote is up 10% in Donegal SW. Joe Reilly ran in Meath last time out and has increased his vote in Meath West. He has suffered badly as a result of the splitting of the Meath constituency. I'd agree that the Waterford vote has stagnated though. I don't believe that SF have reached their peak across the country.

To make an impact as a political party, they need to take seats beyond deprived/border areas. Not only have Sinn Féin missed out on places like Meath East, but the inner city Dublin vote has collapsed.

The SF vote across Dublin has taken a hammering. There's nothing to say this won't be regained in future though.

[factual]

Yep Morgan back in. MLM out

A short note is in order here on MLM. MLM spent a lot of time on the media putting forward Sinn Féin's policies and working on party chair business. That benefited the party generally but probably meant that her own vote suffered as she wasn't able to spend as much time working in her constituency.

[Seánod]

I don't see a gain in Donegal, FF transfers will wipe Mac Lochlainn out.

If Niall Blaney gets eliminated in the next round, his strong republican vote could favour Mac Lochlainn.

Why is Martin McGuinness being interviewed instead of Padraig? This has been a problem in this election, letting the big guns from the north do the talking for the southern politicians.

Agree. Padraig should have been interviewed. Lets use our Dail-candidate politicans and not have so many faces and voices from the six counties.

Why not have an all-ireland mix, a bit of Pádraig and a bit of Gerry or whatever... your last two posts have veered toward the partitionist.

[Col]

Why not have an all-ireland mix, a bit of Pádraig and a bit of Gerry or whatever... your last two posts have veered toward the partitionist.

I wouldn't mind Gerry Adams in his role as party leader being interviewed along with Padraig. But a major problem with the election has been the prominence and reliance of southern politicians on the northern ones. If we're to build an all Ireland party, we need to have southern politicians (not just Mary Lou) in more prominent positions.

That's probably one of the biggest disappointments of this election - that a new wave of Sinn Fein representatives have failed to make the breakthrough that could have seen them standing on their own right in future, not just relying on progress in the north.

[inchicore_republican]

The workers party got I think a high of ten seats in the 80s,Sinn Fein will visile out in a few years.

[Jimmy Sands]

So the party that was angling for the Education portfolio thinks that the 6.6% it got yesterday is more than the 11.1% it got in 2004?

[Col]

Who has said that? If you want to do comparisons, try comparing like with like.

[Seánod]

Why not have an all-ireland mix, a bit of Pádraig and a bit of Gerry or whatever... your last two posts have veered toward the partitionist.

I wouldn't mind Gerry Adams in his role as party leader being interviewed along with Padraig. But a major problem with the election has been the prominence and reliance of southern politicians on the northern ones. If we're to build an all Ireland party, we need to have southern politicians (not just Mary Lou) in more prominent positions.

That's probably one of the biggest disappointments of this election - that a new wave of Sinn Fein representatives have failed to make the breakthrough that could have seen them standing on their own right in future, not just relying on progress in the north.

I agree with you there.

[st333ve]

Well im glad FF have got this election in the bag, they campaigned a lot of this election on the progress on the north.

This has ate into Sinn Feins vote, FF were quite wise to to bring the all-ireland dimension to this election, a lot of people and even politicians will tell you that people dont care about the north, however the republican vote base has felt comfortable voting for FF and i think that FG made a disasterous mistake excluding the all-ireland domension from their campaign, as i have mentioned in the recent past.

Just one glimps at Fine Gaels contract would offend republicans, and their constant refering to the 26 as "ireland" and "our country" made sure they lost out from the republican based voters.

I would have liked SF to do better, but i am also happy that FF have succeeded, long may they continue their efforts to integrate the southern economy,transport, energy etc. into the north something i dont believe any other coalition or party would focus on so much.

SF need to get their act together, this is a nice toe in the arse for them.
People realise that they need to get some decent economic minds into the party and im sure they realise this, they have 5 years to modernise and learn from what has happened, i wish them all the best for the future, the potential is there if they model themselves on the larger parties grabbing the votes, its not 1975 anymore.

[Col]

You're overestimating the republican mindset in the south. Republican based voters are highly unlikely to vote for Fine Gael at any rate.

With regards to DNE, I think Padraig is in with a more than 50-50 shot at it. Looking at the votes from Inishowen where Keaveney is based, McDaid and Blaney polled very poorly. This should mean that Padraig should stay in the running based on the fact that he polled very well there too.