Martin Ferris joins Sinn Féin internal review in wake of its poor election performance
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Former Kerry TD Martin Ferris has been drafted in as part of a review into Sinn Féin’s disappointing performance in the local and European elections.
In the wake of June’s elections, Mary Lou McDonald announced that her party would be carrying out a full assessment which is expected to be completed within weeks.
As part of this process, it is understood that TDs and senators recently met for almost four hours in the Alex Hotel in Dublin to discuss the fallout from the elections and thrash out what must be done to improve the party’s performance ahead of a general election.
Mr Ferris and former Belfast mayor Alex Maskey have also been asked to provide guidance on strategy and direction.
Meetings have taken place at local level, with regional meetings expected to begin this week as part of the review.
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Among the issues and criticisms raised by politicians during the marathon meeting in the Alex Hotel was the party’s decision to campaign for a yes vote in the recent referendums. A lack of clarity around migration has also been raised by members.
Some members were also critical of the fact that Sinn Féin is now trying to be “all things to all men” stressing that the party should go back to it’s core policy areas.
One elected member suggested that the Sinn Féin party has changed significantly since they joined and now does not reflect many of the views of the grassroots.
Privately, members have also been critical of Ms McDonald and the level of contact she has with both politicians and regular members. Others have pointed the blame at the team around her and the broader party management.
“People talk about leadership and some officials not listening and not having their finger on the pulse — is that Mary Lou or is that others in HQ? I don’t know,” said one member of the parliamentary party when asked.
But politicians and grassroots members agree that those at the top of the party did not listen to what was being said on the ground ahead of the most recent elections.
“In areas where we only had one councillor, we were running three candidates. At grassroots level, people were saying two candidates would have been enough in these areas but three candidates were still selected,” said one senior member of the party.
"There were mistakes made.”
Another TD suggested that HQ put too much of a national focus on the local elections and the campaign was run more like a general election.
However, members believe that no radical policy changes will be introduced following the review, but the party will reassess the number of candidates it runs in the general election.
Two candidates may now be put forward in constituencies such as Donegal and Waterford, where Sinn Féin had intended to run three candidates.
It comes as the latest opinion poll shows a further slide in support for Sinn Féin, which is down four points to 18%. This is a significant slide since Ms McDonald’s support peaked at 36% in the summer of 2022.
The first poll since the recent local and European elections sees support for Fine Gael is up two points to 24%, followed by Fianna Fáil on 20% — which is a three point rise since the last comparable poll in June.
The Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks opinion poll put Independents and others on 20%, which is a three-point drop in support for this group.
The Social Democrats, the Green Party, and Aontú are all on 4% support, while Labour is unchanged at 3%. PBP-Solidarity is on 3%.