World of Politics with Harry McGee

The last local elections in May 2019 were dominated by the story of a big swing; nothing to do with the voting though – it was the famous swing in the Dublin version of the Dean Hotel that former TD Maria Bailey took a tumble from.

That’s how exciting local and European elections are for the media and the public. As a political story, they ran a distant second to the so-called Swing-gate.

As it happened there were political swings too. In the locals, the Greens made big gains. Fianna Fáil and the Social Democrats made some gains. Fine Gael was treading water. Sinn Féin lost a fair few seats.

It was a little different for Europeans. The Greens gained two seats. Fianna Fáil gained two but failed to take one in Midlands North West. Sinn Féin lost two of its three MEPs. Fine Gael ended up winning four with Maria Walsh taking a second seat in Midlands North West.

At the time, Sinn Féin was on a downward slope and had been since the general election of 2016. What won it gains in 2014, messages of anti-austerity, protests against water charges, no longer applied. It was struggling to find its feet.

It lost almost half its seats in the locals, falling from 159 down to 81. Its share of the vote had dipped to below 10 per cent, a drop of 5.6 per cent.

So, the ‘read’ at the time of the 2019 election was that Fianna Fáil seemed to be continuing its recovery from the nadir of 2011 into the next general election. Fine Gael was in its second term of government and was concerned about holding its own. Sinn Fein looked like it would have a difficult general election.

For the Councils, Fianna Fáíl held remained the largest party in local government and showed strongly in working class areas of Dublin. Its European election was mediocre though.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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