Irish Examiner view: Sinn Féin rise plays on Fine Gael minds
Higher Education Minister Simon Harris: The next general election 'is going to be like no other in terms of trying to ensure that we keep populists out of government'. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA
As reported here on Thursday, Higher and Further Education Minister Simon Harris has indicated that the next general election will be “an election that I think is going to be like no other in terms of trying to ensure that we keep populists out of government”, a description which is well worth examining.
Clearly, every election is different to its predecessors, with varying issues assuming importance according to their time — even the supposedly predictable elections of the 1940s and 1950s had the likes of Clann na Poblachta upsetting the status quo — but Harris may have a different message in mind.
Granted, several TDs from his party will not contest the next general election, leaving Fine Gael to find viable candidates. There is also the background hum of uncertainty in any coalition about the prospect of one of the parties deciding to make a run to the country, a hum that grows louder the nearer the coalition term comes to its end.
However, there is also the rise of Sinn Féin to consider for Harris and his colleagues in Government. Many observers believe Sinn Féin will be an integral part of the next government — and that the party may in fact be the senior partner in any coalition formed after those polls close, on the basis of seats won.
The party led by Mary Lou McDonald certainly exercises the minds of those in power. Only this week, Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien wrote to Sinn Féin’s housing and finance spokesmen Eoin Ó Broin and Pearse Doherty specifically in order to criticise their party’s amendments to the new housing legislation, for instance.
Is Simon Harris indicating to his party and its followers that they need to be on an election footing against a rising tide of support against opponents with growing momentum?
Or is there a hint that the election is “going to be like no other” because it may be earlier than expected?
If the Government goes to the polls before it completes its term it may hope to defy expectations of a Sinn Féin landslide, but in these fevered times there are no guarantees.
New research from the organisation Pobal makes for dispiriting reading, given its detailed analysis of the levels of disadvantage in this country.
It shows a growth in the number of people who can be classed as disadvantaged, from 143,506 in 2016 to 195,992 last year.
This is difficult to believe of a country which enjoys such high employment levels, never mind the famous corporate tax receipts of recent years, but what makes the figures galling is the entrenched nature of that disadvantage.
The report shows a disproportionate number of disadvantaged communities are evident in parts of Dublin city centre, North and West Dublin, outlying areas of Cork, Waterford, and Limerick, along with certain rural towns: These areas have higher rates of lone parents, higher levels of unemployment, and lower levels of education.
Karen Kiernan, of charity One Family, said the research bears “out what we say in our work on a day-to-day basis... many of the families we work with are absolutely struggling, day-to-day, week-to-week. They were always left behind as communities, and as families, and the cost-of-living crisis has made it much worse.”
Ms Kiernan’s most piercing comment is that these communities and families were always left behind, and that clearly continues to be the case. It is an indictment of successive Governments that meaningful progress has not been achieved in this area — that the problem is getting worse if anything, with the number of disadvantaged people in the State growing by one-third, in the last seven years.
This situation should be a concern for all on its merits, as all citizens are entitled to the same opportunities to develop and succeed. It should also give particular pause to the Government, as a growing number of people who feel isolated, disempowered, and disenfranchised does not augur well for the future of the country.
A close Rugby World Cup final last weekend ended with South Africa winning by the narrowest of margins, edging out New Zealand by one point to ensure the tournament was a live issue to the final whistle.
And beyond, it seems. There was surprise on Thursday when it emerged that New Zealand had sent a file to World Rugby seeking explanations for some of the decisions made by referee Wayne Barnes during the game.
The New Zealand rugby team has been held up by many as an example of how teams and organisations should operate, with books written about the power of the All Black culture. The usual example of that culture is the fact that the players clean up their dressing rooms after games, as though no sportsperson had ever wielded a brush and pan before New Zealand discovered them.
It’s not clear how that culture now accommodates complaints about refereeing decisions after the fact (though at least those complaints don’t include the death threats received by Barnes after the game). Querying various calls with the game long over smacks of bad sportsmanship, pure and simple, though it also raises other questions.
For instance, if New Zealand are happy to query refereeing decisions which went against them, presumably they would be equally happy to revisit refereeing decisions which favoured them in other games.
Or perhaps that’s not the All Black way.
