Scandal-hit Sinn Féin on back foot ahead of Irish elections

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Ireland’s main opposition party is battling a deepening crisis over how it handled internal scandals as it struggles to regain momentum ahead of a general election.

Sinn Féin, the anti-establishment, leftist party that was once the political wing of Irish republican paramilitaries in Northern Ireland, has been trying to focus public attention on its housing plans and to dispel investor fears about its economic policies in an effort to stem a plunge in the polls.

But with mounting scandals raising questions about the leadership of Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald, the party — until recently seen as on the brink of power — has plunged in opinion polls behind conservative Premier Simon Harris’s Fine Gael. A general election is expected within weeks.

McDonald vowed to continue to lead the party, defending its internal procedures “that hold people to account”.

“Where there are mistakes, shortfalls, bad behaviour, complaints, they will be dealt with honestly,” she told RTÉ on Monday. “This is how our party operates.”

Her comments came in response to two of her deputies quitting in recent days, citing disquiet over how the secretive party manages its affairs.

Brian Stanley, a prominent deputy, unexpectedly resigned on Saturday, saying a “clique” within Sinn Féin had sought to damage his reputation. He said he no longer had confidence in how the party dealt with things after it launched an internal inquiry against him, which he likened to a “kangaroo court”. Neither he nor the party said what it involved.

McDonald said Stanley’s case had been referred to the police in “an abundance of caution”, adding: “We will not ignore or hide away from difficult issues when they arise.”

Another deputy, Patricia Ryan, quit on Friday, alleging that Sinn Féin had censored social media posts and vetted members’ questions for the leadership.

“If you’re a member of a party, you should be able to openly ask that question without being curtailed,” Ryan told a local radio station on Friday.

The two resignations came after Sinn Féin’s poor handling of a scandal involving a former press officer who has admitted child sex offences in Northern Ireland and the exit of another party figure there for allegedly sending inappropriate text messages to a 17-year-old.

This month’s Ireland Thinks/Sunday Independent poll put Fine Gael, which has been in power since 2011, on 26 per cent support with its centrist coalition partner Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin both tied on 19 per cent.

The election is due to be held by March next year, but Harris is expected to call it soon to capitalise on a strong poll lead, a giveaway budget and Sinn Féin’s plunge in popularity since hitting a high of 36 per cent in polls in 2022.

Speaking to the Financial Times before the scandals snowballed, McDonald stressed her party would remain fiscally prudent if elected.

“The main thing that business takes from us, and I hope takes reassurance from, is that there will be no surprises as we go about our business in an orderly way,” she said. “What you see is what you get.”

In power, the party would invest more of Ireland’s wealth “smartly” to build housing and infrastructure “at scale”.

She added: “This place will remain a very, very attractive destination for . . . FDI [foreign direct investment], with the proviso that we do catch-up on our infrastructure. I think we can make Ireland more attractive.”

Government parties have stoked fears Sinn Féin would fundamentally change economic policy in Ireland a decade and a half after a painful economic crash.

It has vowed to boost a government levy on banks rescued by the state at that time, given their “massive profits”, to introduce a 3 per cent “solidarity tax” on incomes above €140,000 and a “pollution tax” on private jets.

McDonald said higher earners had “wider shoulders, deeper pockets”.

But she has made a point of courting global tech giants in Silicon Valley, and finance spokesman Pearse Doherty held an investor meeting in London in April organised by stockbrokers Davy, after which its analysts said “some of [the party’s] more extreme policies have been removed”.