How Far-Right Rhetoric Derailed Sinn Féin's Path to Power in Ireland
In her new book, Siobhán Fenton, former adviser to the Sinn Féin leader, recounts how xenophobia within the party's base derailed its march to power.
Siobhán Fenton, former media adviser to Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, reveals the shifts in Irish politics and the major obstacles the party faced on its path to power in her newly published book.
Attack During the Campaign
In May 2024, while knocking on doors at an apartment complex in Dublin, Siobhán Fenton was targeted with coins thrown from a balcony, an event that marked one of the first signs of the party's major slump in the elections.
The assailant shouting xenophobic and abusive slogans directed at the party clearly laid bare the escalating tensions ahead of the local and European elections.
Inside Information Featured in the Book
Breaking the party's tradition of strict discipline and secrecy, Siobhán Fenton detailed the inside story of this electoral debacle in her book Ourselves Alone: Sinn Féin Behind Closed Doors.
Fenton's work details how the party leadership was caught unprepared and paralyzed by this sudden ideological drift at the grassroots level.
The Rise Period and Turning Point
Having joined the party in early 2020, Fenton recounted how Sinn Féin remained at the top of opinion polls for three years following its high vote share in the general election.
However, xenophobia triggered by social issues such as the housing crisis, rising living costs, and the influx of immigrants became one of the biggest factors eroding the party's vote share.
Transformation Within the Party and Results
Shifting public opinion and missteps within the party caused Sinn Féin, which had set out with the dream of forming a left-leaning progressive government, to completely lose its political momentum.
Following these processes, Siobhán Fenton's contract was not renewed, and she left the party, returning to Belfast to continue her career as a writer and analyst.