Writing during the Sin Fein ard fheis, Matt Treacy muses on the party's rightward trajectory.

There must be a lot of humble pie being eaten by the Sinn Féin “left” this morning. Having stoutly denied that they would ever support being in government with one of the “right wing” parties – obviously the DUP are the Irish equivalent of Syriza – last night they voted to do just that.

Not only did some of their TDs, councillors and leading activists claim not so long ago that this would never happen, but some of them said they would resign should such a decision be made. Of course they won’t. Sheep don’t turn on the sheepdogs.

With Fianna Fáil having already ruled out a coalition, although all these things will ultimately come down to numbers after the seats are counted in, in effect Sinn Féin are saying that would enter a coalition with Fine Gael. That would indeed be the “end of Civil War politics.” It will be interesting to see what Varadkar’s reaction is.

Later today they will vote to deny party members, and one in particular, to be allowed a free vote on the amendment to repeal the 8th amendment. There is also a motion from Cork that allegedly deals with the ongoing issue of internal intimidation. Ostensibly the motion might appear to address the issue but in reality it will be used to attack those who have been expelled, resigned or at in purdah.

In his speech tonight Gerry Adams will announce his retirement at some stage prior to the next general election in the south. Some people believe he has stayed so long because of some Robert Mugabe desire to cling to power. I would imagine that it has more to do with his realisation that when he is gone, that Sinn Féin will lose even more of its historic status. None of his likely successors will hold the thing together. And they won’t be running the show anyway.





Matt Treacy’s book on the 2013 All Ireland championship is available on Amazon.

Matt Treacy’s book A Tunnel to the Moon: The End of the Irish Republican Army is also available @ Amazon. 

Matt Treacy blogs @ Brocaire Books. 

Follow Matt Treacy on Twitter @MattTreacy2






“We Will Never Enter A Coalition With The Right.”

Writing during the Sin Fein ard fheis, Matt Treacy muses on the party's rightward trajectory.

There must be a lot of humble pie being eaten by the Sinn Féin “left” this morning. Having stoutly denied that they would ever support being in government with one of the “right wing” parties – obviously the DUP are the Irish equivalent of Syriza – last night they voted to do just that.

Not only did some of their TDs, councillors and leading activists claim not so long ago that this would never happen, but some of them said they would resign should such a decision be made. Of course they won’t. Sheep don’t turn on the sheepdogs.

With Fianna Fáil having already ruled out a coalition, although all these things will ultimately come down to numbers after the seats are counted in, in effect Sinn Féin are saying that would enter a coalition with Fine Gael. That would indeed be the “end of Civil War politics.” It will be interesting to see what Varadkar’s reaction is.

Later today they will vote to deny party members, and one in particular, to be allowed a free vote on the amendment to repeal the 8th amendment. There is also a motion from Cork that allegedly deals with the ongoing issue of internal intimidation. Ostensibly the motion might appear to address the issue but in reality it will be used to attack those who have been expelled, resigned or at in purdah.

In his speech tonight Gerry Adams will announce his retirement at some stage prior to the next general election in the south. Some people believe he has stayed so long because of some Robert Mugabe desire to cling to power. I would imagine that it has more to do with his realisation that when he is gone, that Sinn Féin will lose even more of its historic status. None of his likely successors will hold the thing together. And they won’t be running the show anyway.





Matt Treacy’s book on the 2013 All Ireland championship is available on Amazon.

Matt Treacy’s book A Tunnel to the Moon: The End of the Irish Republican Army is also available @ Amazon. 

Matt Treacy blogs @ Brocaire Books. 

Follow Matt Treacy on Twitter @MattTreacy2






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