Gareth O'Callaghan: Sinn Féin’s history no longer seems to matter to today’s voters
![Gareth O'Callaghan: Sinn Féin’s history no longer seems to matter to today’s voters Gareth O'Callaghan: Sinn Féin’s history no longer seems to matter to today’s voters](/cms_media/module_img/7491/3745672_16_articlesmall_Waterford_20Election_20Count_206.jpg)
Election Count at Waterford Institute of Technology in 2020. Pictured is David Cullinane of Sinn Féin who topped the poll with a landslide victory. Picture: Patrick Browne
![Sinn Féin Cumann Corcaigh Cork at the march and rally to mark the 42nd anniversary of the 1981 hunger strike last month. Picture: Larry Cummins Sinn Féin Cumann Corcaigh Cork at the march and rally to mark the 42nd anniversary of the 1981 hunger strike last month. Picture: Larry Cummins](https://www.irishexaminer.com/cms_media/module_img/7491/3745687_15_articleinline_LC_20commemoration_2018.jpg)
Sinn Féin won 24.5% of the first-preference vote, almost doubling its share from 2016 as a result of voters’ discontent at soaring prices, crippling rents, collapsing public services, and a lack of humanity on the Government’s part towards many sectors of the population.
Sinn Féin admitted in the aftermath that if it had fielded more candidates, it could have had a landslide victory.