Election 2024: Richard Boyd Barrett — Pushing the message that a left government is possible
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Sinn Féin has been accused of "keeping its options open" on coalition talks by the People Before Profit leader Richard Boyd Barrett.
In a podcast interview with the , the outgoing Dún Laoghaire TD said parties of Ireland's left should stop forming coalitions with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, even if it allows them to form a government alone.
Asked what he believed his party's selling point for this election was, Mr Boyd Barrett said People Before Profit was the only party pushing the message a left government "is possible" and his party would not "prop up a Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael government".
"All of the other parties, even on the left, are leaving open the option of propping up Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. We think that shows a terrible lack of ambition, frankly," he said.
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"We think it's the reason why the left has been weaker, historically, in Ireland than in the rest of Europe because again and again and again parties whom working-class people would have looked to provide a left government went into government with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael with disastrous consequences.
"Labour did it, the Greens did it. It damaged them and it damaged the project of building a left alternative in this country and, unfortunately, all of those parties are still holding up that option. And it sort of sends the signal that they don't believe they can beat Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil."
He said that induced a "sense of inevitability".
Mr Boyd Barrett was asked if he believed parties like the Greens and Labour were necessary in terms of curbing Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael or, in the Greens' case, forcing climate action onto the agenda.
The People Before Profit leader rejected the idea the Greens had delivered. Mr Boyd Barrett said he felt the party's decision to join a three-party coalition had not seen adequate change in the fight against climate change.
"I'm not sure what they got or what they think they got. I'm sure the Greens will claim they got things, but we have the proliferation of data centres... they capitulated on liquefied natural gas... I don't see what they've achieved but what they have done is they have discredited environmentalism," he said.
"You don't have to walk very far to find people giving out about the Greens."
With polls suggesting Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael may be able to form a government without the support of a minor partner and using independents instead, Mr Boyd Barrett appealed to the leaders of the Green Party, Social Democrats and Labour Party not to be "the mudguard".
He said it would be better for those parties to spend the next five years building a "serious left alliance" that could challenge Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
"If that's the way the numbers fall on Saturday, that is the better option — not to go and prop them up, and build a genuine left alternative," he said.
However, Mr Boyd Barrett said while his party would be pushing this week for that transfer arrangement — which saw a huge surge in votes across the left in 2020 — he did not believe other parties were as willing.
"In the last week we will be appealing once again to parties of the left of centre to embrace the idea of a left alternative," he said.
"I think that would make a difference. If there was a sense of dynamic that the various parties of the left, instead of hedging their bets, went clearly and said 'this is the alternative', that would tip the balance in this election. I'm not sure it will happen."
Asked which parties he believed would not get on board with such an idea, Mr Boyd Barrett said "all of them".
"None of them are really embracing this. They're all keeping their options open. Sinn Féin, Labour, the Social Democrats."
Mr Boyd Barrett said he had written to Mary Lou McDonald proposing a transfer pact but had yet to receive a response. Asked about Mr Boyd Barrett's call on Monday, Ms McDonald urged people to vote and transfer to the left.
"Firstly, that if you want a change in government, Sinn Féin can lead an alternative government. We're asking people to vote for us on that basis, we are also saying to people to transfer their votes thereafter to others who similarly want to see that change," she said.
The People Before Profit leader said while he did not believe Sinn Féin was a socialist party, it did share a base with his party and its policies were "left of the centre".
He said this would make a shared agreement possible, the two parties having had detailed discussions in 2020.
"We felt at the time there was a chance of a left minority government," he said of those discussions.
Mr Boyd Barrett said one of his red lines would be a national health service that goes beyond the Sláintecare plan.
He said taking the "profit motive" out of health would be "transformational".
The People Before Profit manifesto seeks:
To use the Apple tax money to establish a State construction company to build 30,000 social homes and 5,000 affordable homes a year;
The removal of income limits for public housing;
The abolition of the Universal Social Charge.
Mr Boyd Barrett rejected the frequent criticism of the left of spending money it did not have.
"I'm well aware of the arguments about fiscal prudence. We're the most prudent. We actually raise more money than we spend in our manifesto. We raise money through things like a wealth tax, financial transaction taxes. No other party does that."