The Rise and Rise of Sinn Fein
It goes without saying that this Election was a major breakthrough for Sinn Féin, not just in the number of seats they won, but also in geography. They have moved well beyond the border counties, the diehard Republican areas and managed to get a foothold in inner city Ireland in a very big way.
They now have a track record of getting councillors elected as TDs and they will do more of that. There is the prospect that Sinn Féin could get 30 TDs in the next Election. I imagine they will be a real thorn in the side of the Labour Party in government and they are putting the same 'military-style' precision, which they showed in taking out the SDLP up North, into doing the same with the Labour Party down here in the Republic. So they represent a significant threat.
The fact that they now have a charismatic leader, who may not be very well versed on the economy but he is certainly more charismatic than Mary Lou or Caoimhghin O Caolain or Sean Crowe or any of the previous TDs they have had, is a big boon. Adams will play on the heartstrings of 'Protest Ireland', and the numbers of the downtrodden and the dispossessed only likely to increase in the short term, I won't be on my own in thinking the big dark horse in the next Election will be Sinn Féin.
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