Elaine Loughlin: Background diplomacy helps to spread the Sinn Féin brand

“It’s as much about personal relationships as anything, to have those types of contacts with ambassadors, but more crucially, I suppose, with the diplomatic corps that work behind them,” one senior Sinn Féin source said.

A key part of this strategy has been the appointment of former MEP Martina Anderson as Sinn Féin representative to Europe.

Having served in Brussels, she already knows her way around the European institutions, but over the past 18 months, the Derry woman has been busy visiting some of the most exclusive residences in Dublin, tweeting out pictures with the likes of French ambassador Vincent Guérend and Italian ambassador Ruggero Corrias among others.

Anderson’s background diplomacy in the leafy mansions of Dublin’s Ailesbury and Shrewsbury Roads hasn’t gone unnoticed.

“It’s exactly what we used to do and used to be good at,” remarked one Fianna Fáil member, who voiced concern that it is yet another area on which Sinn Féin now seems to be outpacing other parties.

Following on from the work put in by Anderson, Matt Carthy has wasted no time in courting those who will carry his party’s message back to Europe.

Since taking up the foreign affairs spokesperson role last month, he has met with at least three ambassadors and intends to tick off more in the weeks and months ahead.

This, along with a noticeable dilution of what had been core party policies, including the party’s stance on the Special Criminal Court and more recently Pesco (the European Union’s security and defence policy), is a clear indication of intent.

Dampening expectations

In preparing for government, Sinn Féin has been slowly dampening expectations. Mary Lou McDonald, for example, has previously said that it would take her government two terms to fix the housing crisis.

The contribution of Carthy during a Dáil debate on a new Consultative Forum on International Security Policy last week also sent out a signal of how much Sinn Féin would be prepared to do, or not do, on entering Government Buildings.

Carthy warned that the approach taken by the current government on neutrality and international security could see Ireland entered into international agreements which successive governments would not be able to leave.

It is clear that Sinn Féin is now dialling down some of its policies in anticipation of power while ramping up engagement with the types of people it will need in government.

Those in Sinn Féin say this new found level of interest works both ways, with embassies wanting to have discussions with party members, particularly to keep abreast of what has been happening politically in Northern Ireland but also because of the clear prospect of a Mary Lou McDonald-led government in Dublin in the not too distant future.

A party source said:

There’s an interest in terms of what our approach will be in government and also then I think there’s an effort on our part, obviously, to build relations diplomatically to set out what our priorities will be."

As part of her role, Anderson has also been mining her contacts to ensure McDonald gets invited into rooms across Europe and has welcomed numerous delegations from various parliaments to Dublin and Belfast.

In March, the party briefed Spanish ambassador José Pascual Marco Martínez at Stormont, the same month as Sinn Féin members were meeting a delegation from the Danish European Affairs Committee in Leinster House.

In her special envoy role, Anderson has taken trips to the Galician Parliament, attended the European Forum in Athens, and met with various MEPs in Brussels.

Anderson said as taoiseach, McDonald would be sitting down with other governments leaders across Europe “so it’s important that they would get to know Sinn Féin now”.

“We take nothing for granted, but if you are to go by all of the opinion polls over the last two years, it’s very clear that Sinn Féin could lead the next government and Mary Lou will be Taoiseach. People are interested in our policies in that context.”

Unlike the 2020 election when Sinn Féin showed little to no real interest in actually forming a government despite massive electoral success, the importance now being placed on cementing alliances and relationships across the EU indicates that McDonald is serious when it comes to formation talks after the next national poll.

Party message

By focusing on ambassadors, McDonald is ensuring the party message filters out of Ireland and into government departments across Europe.

In a clever move, Sinn Féin has made this work even easier for embassy staff by translating its Europe-focused newsletter into six languages along with English.

Anderson has reached out to contacts across the continent to ensure her bulletin is available in German, French, Spanish, Italian, Danish, and Swedish. Her fourth newsletter went out this week and drops in between an international update that is also aimed at the US.

“I have a network of people who support Irish unity and I am getting a lot of support from people across continental Europe,” she told the Irish Examiner this week when asked about the considerable effort it takes to translate the newsletter which goes out three times a year.

What essentially is a Sinn Féin policy document and party update is then sent around the MPs and politicians across various parliaments, to civic society organisations, political parties, and ambassadors here.

In Germany, the newsletter is sent to members of the German-Irish Parliamentary Friendship Group and to those who sit on the European Affairs Committee in the Bundestag.

Another layer to this new level of communication and engagement is the focus on a future constitutional debate in relation to Irish unity, which a Sinn Féin government would be prioritising.

On this, one senior member said:

Obviously we won’t be expecting any foreign governments to intervene in that referendum, but what we would be hoping for is a very clear indication of support for Ireland in any transition that takes place post that referendum.”

Some in the party will insist that Sinn Féin has always been outward looking and has enjoyed a particularly close relationship with the US for many years. So much so that Ciarán Quinn, who was involved with the party on this side of the Atlantic for many years and who sits on the Sinn Féin National Officer Board, has taken up the position of party director for North America.

The desire to reach out to the diaspora was also seen in McDonald’s trip to Australia last year.

Some contacts have, of course, been forged down through the years, starting during the peace process as the party realised it needed international support to succeed and this increased again following Brexit.

“We have been in America for years, and Sinn Féin as a party has been in the EU parliament for years, but we haven’t really done the national parliaments or the capitals in the way which this project is reaching out,” Anderson said.

The allies and inroads Anderson, Carthy, and others in Sinn Féin make across Europe now will be key if McDonald ends up leading the next government.