ANALYSIS:Although dismissed by opponents, Sinn Féin's policies are not lacking in popular appeal
SINN FÉIN'S election manifesto is like a Late Late Showgiveaway: there's something for everybody in the audience. And despite his history, Gerry Adams does it with a smile worthy of Ryan, Pat or even Gaybo in his day.
Pearse Doherty doesn’t smile much: this is a serious young man who cuts straight to the chase. Here’s what’s on offer, this is what you get, if you vote for Sinn Féin.
Critics and opponents have poured scorn on the party’s economic policies. As they see it, Sinn Féin is like someone who repudiates a debt, lives off a private income until the money runs out and then expects to be given another loan straight away.
The party is accused of being populist, although that may not always be such a bad idea at election time. Doherty has the capacity to spell things out in direct and simple terms that could just catch on with elements of the electorate.
“Burn, baby, burn” was a slogan used by African-American militants in the destructive riots of the 1960s and it has been adapted, consciously or otherwise, by Sinn Féin as “Burn the bondholders”.
The establishment throws up its hands in horror at the consequences of such an approach but it has undoubted doorstep appeal with those who wonder, “Why should we pay for the debts incurred by those feckless bankers?”
Sinn Féin’s other Big Idea is to exempt low-earners in the ‘no-tax’ bracket from the universal social charge.”
There is a very sober and serious argument against that policy but, to the worker who has just seen another large hole appearing in his or her pay-slip, the notion of a 48 per cent tax on salaries above €100,000 has obvious attractions.
Then there’s the concept of “no further drawing-down of the IMF-EU loan”. There is enough money in the kitty to keep us going for a year and then we can re-launch ourselves on the bond markets, Doherty would say.
Madness, say opponents. But again it will appeal to a certain segment of the populace.
It hardly needs saying that Sinn Féin would restore the minimum wage to €8.65 an hour and restore social welfare and child benefit to last year’s levels. Stimulus, not hardship, is the way forward. Spend, baby, spend! Every party has an interesting take on the Seanad and Sinn Féin is no exception. They want to abolish it but only “in its current form”.
How ironic that the republican movement, seen as the greatest threat to the State in its 89-year existence, should now be the last bastion in defence of one of its primary institutions.
In addition, they want all 18 MPs from the North to be accorded “membership” of the Oireachtas. They could attend and speak at Leinster House, but would not have a vote. This group would not, of course, include Gerry Adams who has given up his Westminster seat to seek admission to the Dáil by the conventional route.
Virtually every hour, on the hour, Labour reminds us that the other parties, including Sinn Féin, supported the bank guarantee back in September 2008. The republicans backed away almost immediately but Eamon Gilmore and Joan Burton still keep the memory green.
Sinn Féin justifies its initial stance on the basis of protecting the depositors and it still wants to do that, but in most other respects the banks would be cut loose and abandoned to their fate.
You can hear Gerry’s friend, Fidel Castro, cheering this approach although even he discovered, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, that it’s a harsh world out there and survival can be a huge challenge.
A Sinn Féin government would certainly make people feel good about their sovereignty: there would be no need to worry about Prof Morgan Kelly’s scenario of depending on “the kindness of strangers” because the strangers wouldn’t want to know.
It is a long time since there was an election which excited so much interest among the public. It is clear from the polls that Sinn Féin and the Independents are going to be a significant dimension of the 31st Dáil and, whether right or wrong, their policy proposals must be treated seriously because, whatever else happens, they aren’t going away, you know.
