Tommie Gorman keeping a close eye on ongoing transition of Sinn Féin

Former RTÉ journalist speaks at the Wild Atlantic Words Festival in Castlebar

Former RTÉ journalist Tommie Gorman has stated the likely transition of Sinn Féin from a strong opposition force into a government party after the next general election is certain to be a fascination political process.

Speaking during a visit to Castlebar to promote his book, ‘Never Better, My Life in Our Times,’ at the Wild Atlantic Words Festival, he said he could not argue with the opinion polls which consistently pointed to the party’s elevation to power in 2025.

He elaborated: “There is a pattern. From the time the IRA decommissioned its weapons, Sinn Féin got stronger in the north and particularly so in the south.

“They now have the option of growing in another jurisdiction than Northern Ireland. And they have done so consistently since Gerry Adams crossed the border and stood in the Louth constituency.

“The numbers have gone up and up for them under current leader Mary Lou McDonald. So the pattern has continued.

“We have seen Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in government for the first time and I think there will be big decisions to be made after the next general election.

“It is quite possible Sinn Féin will be the largest party. If that is what the people decide, then so be it. That’s how democracy works,

“But I throw in this qualification as well. Opposition is one thing, power is something completely different.

“Power sometimes involves having to make impossible choices. Power is very draining and it’s hard to keep people satisfied all the time.

“And if you don’t do a good job in government, the voters have the option of getting rid of you at the next election.

“So Sinn Féin’s period as a very active opposition party has a certain life cycle and shelf life.

"Mary Lou McDonald is a very impressive, forceful leader and I don’t think she would be happy to sit in opposition for another five years after the next general election.”

Tommie’s first job in journalism was given to him by the legendary John Healy, Charlestown.

He explained: “Jim McGuire was starting a new newspaper and I went to see John at his home in Fortfield Terrace, Rathmines, Dublin.

"John was the man who cycled to Ballina from Charlestown when he started working for the DeVere family at the Western People.

“When I first met him, he was one of the main forces in Irish journalism. He invented a new form of political journalism.

“One of the reasons he hired me was that he spotted that I had a patch in my trousers that was neatly mended. He said to me: ‘You’re from snipe grass, kid, I like you. You’re hungry.’

“On such instincts, Healy offered me a job. That brought me to Ballina where I worked with the Western Journal from 1977 to 1980.

“From there I went back to my native Sligo. How that came about was that I saw Bunny Carr making a television and radio programme and began to realise the impact both platforms were having.

“A job came up as north western correspondence in RTÉ and I applied for that. To tell you the truth, only for my mother came over to Ballina with the application form and posted it for me, I would have missed the deadline. So luck was on my side.

“I held that job from 1980 to 1989. Then I went for 12 years to Brussels where people I worked with included Castlebar’s Padraig Flynn, a very forceful EU Commissioner and a very able one, too, and colourful.

"I worked there until 2001 when I came back to work as RTÉ’s northern editor in Belfast for 20 years.”

It is perhaps from this period of his career that Tommie is best remembered for the many stories he broke during the years that followed the Good Friday Agreement, signed on April 10, 1998.

He said: “It surprised me that as one who grew up less than 30 miles from the border in Sligo that I did not have a sense of what it was like until I went to work there.

“When I had gone away to Brussels in the aftermath of the Enniskillen bombing, I wondered would we ever see peace in Northern Ireland.

“But when I came back in 2002, three years after the Good Friday Agreement, there was a new dimension to it.

“It was wonderful being around during the years when you saw peace taking root, Sinn Féin going into government with the DUP, weapons being decommissioned, and the emergence of a much more peaceful Ireland.

“I think we should never forget the miracle of peace that we have. We might have frustrating politics, stand-offs and boycotts, but we no longer have killing.

“That is a major achievement in our time.”

In this insightful and generous book, Tommie takes readers behind the scenes and shares some of his memories from Sligo to Stormont, via Brussels and Sweden, as he recounts 40 extraordinary years of Irish history from his front-row seat and looks at what may lie ahead for the island.

* The Wild Atlantic Words Festival in Castlebar continues until Sunday with the launch of 'The History of Castlebar' by Noel Campbell and John Healy taking place this evening at 7.30 in the Festival Dome.