Northern Ireland has been held back for too long by the constant fear and bigotry spouted by British Unionist parties.
While this is very consequential for Sinn Féin and for Northern Ireland, I think the next general election in the Republic of Ireland will matter much more to Sinn Féin.
Sinn Féin are by far the largest party in the south of Ireland too. This doesn’t guarantee they will be the next Irish government (the current three party coalition could continue), but there is a strong possibility they could be.
Almost inevitably, if they form a government, it will mean a change in official Irish government policy on the unification issue. SF will want to change that to “beginning preparation” mode – whoever they form a coalition with will have to reach some compromise position.
As all Irish political parties officially support unification, it will be interesting to see how much SF can move the Overton Window on unification in the south of Ireland. If they are clever about it, perhaps quite a lot.
2 comments
This is excellent news.
Northern Ireland has been held back for too long by the constant fear and bigotry spouted by British Unionist parties.
While this is very consequential for Sinn Féin and for Northern Ireland, I think the next general election in the Republic of Ireland will matter much more to Sinn Féin.
Sinn Féin are by far the largest party in the south of Ireland too. This doesn’t guarantee they will be the next Irish government (the current three party coalition could continue), but there is a strong possibility they could be.
Almost inevitably, if they form a government, it will mean a change in official Irish government policy on the unification issue. SF will want to change that to “beginning preparation” mode – whoever they form a coalition with will have to reach some compromise position.
As all Irish political parties officially support unification, it will be interesting to see how much SF can move the Overton Window on unification in the south of Ireland. If they are clever about it, perhaps quite a lot.