Republican News · Thursday 13 June 1997

[An Phoblacht]

Voters verdict cannot be ignored

Neil Forde analyses the massive rise in the Sinn Féin vote

Three elections in the space of five weeks and who can deny the startling proof that the shackles on Sinn Féin's development as a political force have now been broken. After years of dedicated struggle and activism Sinn Féin has knocked on the doors of establishment power and now the republican people of Ireland can no longer be denied recognition as a legitimate political grouping.

Throughout the 14 constituencies that Sinn Féin contested in last week's Leinster House elections voters turned out in hugely increased numbers to support the party. The support for Sinn Féin culminated in a 2.55% vote share gained from contesting only 14 out of 41 constituencies. Add to this a poll topping TD and strong performances in Kerry, Sligo, Cork, Louth, Meath and Dublin and you witness the fact that an increasing number of voters are supporting Sinn Féin as a viable alternative to the tired conservative, self interested elitist politics that have dominated Leinster House for decades. Last Friday 45,614 voters said no to the same old Leinster House political treadmill. Below we go through the 14 constituencies that made up the Sinn Féin vote.


Pat Doherty out on the canvass

Cavan Monaghan up 153%

Not only was Caoimhghín O Caoláin the poll topper and the first TD to be elected in Cavan/Monaghan, he was also the sixth highest vote winner in any of the 41 constituencies. O Caoláin won 11,531 votes, 19.37% of the total poll and a massive 11.77% higher than 1992.

Kieran Doherty was elected here in 1981 on the last count alongside Rory O'Hanlon. This time O Caoláin had the luxury of leaving the count centre after the announcement of the first count. His surplus of 1,606 votes was spread widely with 880 going to the three Fianna Fail candidates and 327 to the four Fine Gael candidates. Labour got 176, and 101 were non transferable while the rest went to the other independent candidates.

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Cork
East up 304%
North Central up 172%

Overshadowed to some extent by the vote of Sinn Féin's Martin in neighbouring Kerry, the two Sinn Féin candidates in Cork Don O'Leary and Kieran McCarthy still turned in excellent performances with a massively increased vote.

Standing in Cork East, McCarthy polled 1,534 votes, 3.56% of the vote up from 366 votes in 1992.

In Cork North Central O'Leary polled 1,654 votes, 3.76% of the poll, up from 618 votes in 1992.

 

Donegal North East up 209%

Sinn Féin's Vice President Pat Doherty was the party candidate here in a constituency that produced one of the most remarkable results of the election, with sitting Fine Gael TD Paddy Harte losing his seat. The end result is that Donegal North East elected two Fianna Fáil and one independent Fianna Fáil representatives.

Sinn Féin polled 2,881 votes, 8.11% of the poll, a significant increase on the 819 votes polled here in 1992

 

Dublin
Central up 78%
North East up 118%
South Central up 184%
South West up 439%
West up 80%

Sinn Féin contested five constituencies in the Dublin region and made significant advances in all of them. Christy Burke was the candidate in Dublin Central. His 2,377 votes won a 6.65% vote share for Sinn Féin. In 1992 the party polled 1,362 votes, 3.74% of the poll.

In Dublin North East Larry O'Toole doubled his 1992 performance, winning 2,212 votes, 5.93% of the poll.

Martina Kenna ran in Dublin South Central, one of the most competitive constituencies in the state. There were 21 candidates and she polled 1,937 votes, 4.77% of the poll almost trebling her 1992 vote total. John McCann almost doubled the Sinn Féin vote in Dublin West. His 2004, 5% of the poll was significantly up from the 1,.032 votes he won in 1992.

The most remarkable performance of Sinn Féin candidates In Dublin was in the South West constituency. Party candidate Seán Crowe won 8.9% of the poll with 3,725 votes, over 4 times the vote he got in 1992.

By the sixth count Crowe's vote had grown to 4,556 votes. The gap for Crowe to win a seat in this constituency next time around is a very bridgeable 2,000 votes.

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Galway West up 263%

Mike Egan was the Sinn Féin candidate in one of the most competitive constituencies in Connacht. Egan polled 1,209 votes, 2.51% of the poll which was over three times the vote he got in 1992. A strong vote in his key council ward looks good for a local authority seat.

 

Kerry North up 574%

The largest percentage increase of any Sinn Féin candidate was that achieved by Martin Ferris in Tralee. Ferris won a massive 5,691 votes, 15.91% of the poll, a result Dick Spring described as ``worrying''. Ferris's vote was a 574% increase in party share on 1992. That's one to save for the next pub quiz.

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Louth up 107%

Sinn Féin ran two candidates in Louth, Maeve Healy, based in Drogheda and Owen Hanratty, based in Dundalk. After the first count Hanratty had polled 2,760 votes while Maeve Healy added 891 to the Sinn Féin total giving a first preference share of 3,651, 8.11% of the poll. In all the party vote was over 1,000 votes up on 1992 and more than double the percentage vote share achieved then.

The turnout was quite low (64%) and Sinn Féin will be targeting those non-voters next time. They also must reach out to areas outside the two main towns if they are to be fighting for a seat in this constituency.

 

Meath up 182%

Navan UDC councillor Joe Reilly recorded possibly the most rounded figure of the Sinn Féin election results. His 2,000 votes won him 3.53% of the poll. When you add in the 20 transfers Reilly won from John Bruton he was on 2020, just proof of his excellent all round vision

 

Sligo Leitrim up 131%

Over 7% of the poll and 3,208 votes was the excellent outcome for Sinn Féin's Seán MacManus in Sligo Leitrim. MacManus more than doubled the vote won in 1992 an opens the way for a serious challenge for more council seats in the forthcoming 26-County local elections.

 

Round Up

The overall Sinn Féin performance in the Leinster House elections is a remarkable result. Taken with the local and Westminster elections in the Six Counties Sinn Féin is a unique political party. They are the only party with parliamentary representatives from both the Six and the 26 Counties. They are the only party with councillors in every province of Ireland and across the 32 counties of Ireland they have 6.69% of the vote.

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