{"id":170704,"date":"2025-11-09T01:54:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T01:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/170704\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T01:54:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T01:54:14","slug":"sinn-fein-promoting-policies-that-are-not-left-wing-says-holly-cairns-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/170704\/","title":{"rendered":"Sinn F\u00e9in promoting policies that \u2018are not left wing\u2019, says Holly Cairns \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sinn F\u00e9in <\/a>promotes policies that \u201caren\u2019t left wing\u201d and has similar positions to Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael on tax, Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns <\/a>has said.<\/p>\n

Just weeks after sharing a platform with Sinn F\u00e9in leader Mary Lou McDonald <\/a>in the presidential campaign, Ms Cairns said the party \u201cto a certain extent\u201d promises the same large tax cuts and investment in public services as Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael. <\/p>\n

In an interview with The Irish Times, Ms Cairns said there were clear policy differences between her party and Sinn F\u00e9in<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She said she would consider the environmental case for water charges, leaving the door open to a policy that could strain relations with other left-wing parties that campaigned with the Social Democrats during the presidential election. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Holly Cairns on her struggles with the D\u00e1il commute and childcare: \u2018It is difficult\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Ms Cairns\u2019s party was one of the first to support Catherine Connolly\u2019s campaign to become the next president of Ireland<\/a>. The united left-wing campaign, which was later supported by Sinn F\u00e9in, was presented as the foundation for a possible future left-wing government. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are things that we don\u2019t align with Sinn F\u00e9in on, and climate\u2019s a really good example. There\u2019s more,\u201d said Ms Cairns.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re more compatible with them than parties on the right of centre,\u201d she said, adding that \u201csome of their policies aren\u2019t left wing\u201d.<\/p>\n

Asked if the Social Democrats would consider making the case for water charges again, Ms Cairns replied: \u201cIt\u2019s something I\u2019ll look into. I\u2019m not going to give you a half-baked answer, because it wouldn\u2019t be a good one, necessarily. So I might have to think about it, look into it, and get back to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Cairns, who is from a farming background in the Cork South-West constituency, said she would rather lose her seat than adopt a more popular position on the nitrates derogation. This week, she was criticised by Fianna F\u00e1il for saying the Government is attempting to hang on to the nitrates derogation for dear life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d rather lose my seat than say something that I don\u2019t believe in, because I didn\u2019t go into politics to do that,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

In a wide-ranging interview<\/a> marking her return to politics in September after having her first baby in November 2024, Ms Cairns criticised commentator Ivan Yates for remarks he had made about the length of her maternity leave. <\/p>\n

\"\"Is it possible to have a coherent debate on immigration?<\/p>\n

On an episode of the Path to Power podcast in August, Mr Yates claimed the length of her maternity leave demonstrated a lack of seriousness by the Soc Dems. \u201cShe never says anything about anything \u2026 she\u2019s actually disappeared for 12 months,\u201d said Mr Yates. <\/p>\n

Ms Cairns described the comments as \u201cquite attention-seeking\u201d, saying she does not think she gives them much attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s 2025 … comments like that are so ridiculous and so unhelpful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Cairns confirmed her party will \u201cdefinitely\u201d be running its own candidate in the upcoming Galway West byelection to fill president-elect Catherine Connolly\u2019s seat. <\/p>\n

She said the party will be asking voters to vote left and transfer left. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sinn F\u00e9in promotes policies that \u201caren\u2019t left wing\u201d and has similar positions to Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,18,13,14,4771,553,6,47074,19,17,14187,11,12,15,16,16594,5,47,18578,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-170704","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-fianna-fail","14":"tag-fine-gael","15":"tag-headlines","16":"tag-holly-cairns","17":"tag-ie","18":"tag-ireland","19":"tag-irish-water","20":"tag-latest-news","21":"tag-latestnews","22":"tag-main-news","23":"tag-mainnews","24":"tag-mary-lou-mcdonald","25":"tag-news","26":"tag-sinn-fein","27":"tag-social-democrats","28":"tag-top-stories","29":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115517250883146344","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}