SF TDs share mixed feelings on coalition

Sinn Féin’s newly elected TDs, Matt Carthy and Cathy Bennett, do want to see their party in government, but not at any cost and certainly not with a risk of subjugating their primary principals such as the continued fight for a united Ireland.

It’s not inconceivable, says Carthy of Sinn Féin forming part of a coalition government ahead of the next Dáil term, but he doesn’t see it happening.

“I want Sinn Féin to be in government but I want Sinn Féin to be in government to implement the policies that will make Ireland a better and a fairer and, of course, a united country. It’s difficult to see the route to achieving a [place in a coalition government].

“It seems Fianna Fáil are intent on bringing Fine Gael in as a junior partner and God help whoever else is making up the numbers because I think we’ve seen their experience. What we’ll be doing this week is reaching out to other progressive voices in the Dáil, to work collaboratively as we always have.”

Bennett shares that opinion too.

“We’ll have to crunch the numbers,” she says, admitting that being in Government has always been Sinn Féin’s ultimate ambition. “We are willing to work with anybody. We’re not one of these parties who is putting up barriers and saying ‘you’re not getting in’. We’re one of those parties willing to work with anybody willing to work with us.”

The likes of People Before Profit leader Richard Boyd Barrett has been scathing of SF’s Mary Lou McDonald for not coming out sooner in support of other left-leaning parties to form an alliance and rule out entering government with Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil.

To that extent the Dun Laoghaire TD accused SF and others of lacking ambition.

Carthy though defended his party’s position: “That question has been asked of me all through the count. But let me remind people where we were coming from. Every opinion poll since June, every expert analysis said we were going to have a bad day here. So we sought to regroup.

“When the wind blows, it goes into every corner. If it blows against you, or for you, you’ll feel some of that. The truth is we have had, looking back over the six months, a phenomenal election campaign. Do I wish it was even better? Of course I do. But the truth is we are going into the Dáil with the largest number of TDs we’ve ever had, and we will be recalibrating and collaborating with other political voices who want to see change that this country desperately needs.”