Back in the dark days following the 2008 economic crash, a new acronym began to appear in newspaper columns. 

'There is no alternative' (Tina) was introduced, from memory, by Gene Kerrigan as a neat encapsulation of the Government’s insistence that severe cuts were required in public spending.

'Tina' was the stock response from government ministers at the time. We have to do this. There is no other way out of the morass. 

Tina became a byword for lumbering on those least able to bear the biggest cuts to their standard of living.

'There is no alternative' today 

Tina could have been applied with less bitter irony to the general election. There was no alternative. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, either as a couple, or with a throuple element, was the only coherent Government likely to emerge from the electorate.

Sinn Féin, as the main party in opposition, was never going to have the numbers from which to build a Government. 

While only around 42% of voters opted for Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael, it is also the case that when Independents from the “gene pools” of both parties are included, the share of the vote increases by up to another 5%.

In terms of a democracy’s health, it is not a good look that there was no alternative. Democracy thrives on a competition of ideas, just as it stagnates when there is no handover of power over a long period.

But why was there no alternative?

Five years ago, Sinn Féin appeared to be on the cusp of dragging the State into a new political dispensation. 

That it failed to emerge has been attributed to various issues which befell the party, some self-inflicted.

So, where was the alternative?  

Yet, despite that, a bigger issue that may well have fed into voters’ thinking is that there was no comprehensive alliance to offer a genuine alternative.

Sinn Féin in particular rolled out that “100 years of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael” line, but they did not present an alternative vision that included other entities.

“The momentum for change is behind Sinn Féin,” Mary Lou McDonald said on the last day of campaigning.

“We’ve never been closer. It’s now over to the people”.

The people basically asked what kind of change are you selling and they got no proper reply. One reason for the failure to present what we might call a united left was that, for the first two years after the 2020 election, Sinn Féin saw itself as cannibalising the other left-wing parties’ votes. 

Why join forces if you intend to decimate your ally?

That changed with the decline in support for the Shinners, but what remained was the complete lack of a comprehensive outline of what the change would look like.

Even if the numbers had indicated that an alternative was on the cards, it would not have been along ideological lines so much as just “anyone but Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael” (ABFFFG).

That is the kind of pitch that might work if people are desperate and willing to try anything at all. 

Few votes for incoherent change 

Whatever about some sections of society, the electorate in this instance were not desperate nor willing to vote for a change that lacked any coherence. 

The Labour Party and the Social Democrats had policy platforms that chimed and were coherent. Both espouse standard centre-left or social democratic policies. 

But what about the main ABFFFG element, Sinn Féin? 

SF is close to the two Civil War parties  

On policies like tax cuts, immigration, and climate change, the Shinners are closer to the Civil War parties than the centre-left block of Labour and the Soc Dems.

The party’s manifesto was compelled to offer tax cuts, albeit to the lower paid, but most definitely contrary to a broad left-wing view that the tax base must be expanded not narrowed.

Since last January, Sinn Féin hardened its stance on asylum seeker accommodation in line with pivots from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. 

Its current position is that accommodation centres should only be located in affluent areas.

Apart from being impractical, this is woolly enough to allow members object to anything that might land in their area — wherever that is.

The party’s climate change policy is largely a delicate attempt to ensure no potential voter is discommoded in any way. For instance, in 2022, it refused to offer its position on what carbon limits should be imposed on agriculture. 

Best to stay schtum when bad news is to be delivered to any voter.

What policies favour 'the men of property'? 

Then there is a basic tenet for any left-wing philosophy — the property tax. Even though the tax on homes is small by any international standards, Sinn Féin’s position is to abolish it.

The party that frequently cites James Connolly as some sort of guiding star wants to bow down to “the men of property” at a time of a major housing crisis.

Throw in the primary focus of Sinn Féin, the reunification of the island post haste in order to retrospectively justify the Provos’ killing campaign, and the complications in leading a left block deepen. Any attempt to present the Irish people with an ideologically different way of doing things wasn’t going to get off the ground.

PBP/Solidarity seemed ready for the 20th century 

The other element to any block was the far left, as expressed by People Before Profit/Solidarity and a scattering of like-minded independents.

To be fair to PBP/Solidarity, at least they made some attempt at a unification of the left, albeit one that excluded Labour for the original sin of having previously served in Government with the Civil War parties.

Despite the attempts to reach out to others, the party’s message sounds as if it was designed for the early 20th century rather than the 21st.

Its chairman, veteran socialist Kieran Allen, told RTÉ’s election coverage that the party’s aim was to overthrow capitalism. 

Right you are, so presumably there would be no place there for foreign direct investment?

While PBP/Solidarity has efficient Dáil representatives, they wouldn’t last a wet week in Government. The first decision to impact on their ideological purity would see them running for the street to protest against their former colleagues in the Cabinet. So there was no coherence, even on a broad philosophical basis, that would be completely removed from the middle-of-the-road approach of FF and FG.

Same old versus hollowed-out unknown

It should be no wonder that the electorate either stayed home or ensured that the same old, same old was better than the hollowed-out unknown.

The one thing that the opposition have right now is time. It looks as if the next Government will be designed to go the full five years. That gives those opposing it the chance to adopt a joint strategy which could put shape on a broadly cohesive policy platform.

If the electorate sees an alternative that is united, cohesive, and organised, there is every chance that Tina can be put to bed and new political divide firmly established.

Don’t bet on it, though.