Appeal for 'French-style united left political alliance' in Mayo
The spokesperson for People Before Profit in Mayo Joe Daly has made a public appeal to Sinn Féin in Mayo to explore the possibility of building a united left alliance with People Before Profit, the Social Democrats, Left Independents and the Trade Unions leading into the general election which is likely to take place in November.
In making this appeal Mr. Daly elaborated: “After the local and European elections in Ireland, it is clear that sections of the Irish media and leading Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael politicians can barely conceal their glee at the prospect of defeating Sinn Féin in the coming general election.
“A year ago, the political establishment and sections of the elite were terrified at the prospect of a Sinn Féin-led government.
"Now, after the recent elections, the establishment are confident that they’ll get back into power backed up by right-wing pseudo-independents”
Explaining his rationale, Mr Daly continued: “In the recent French elections, where the left came together on the basis of a far-reaching left programme, they were able to defeat both the neo-liberals of Macron and the far-right of Le Pen.
“For us, the lesson from France is that a Left Front, united around radical demands, can win at the next general election in Ireland.
"What we know for certain is that a policy of pandering to the far right racists and trying to outdo Fianna Fáil at being Fianna Fáil will not inspire workers to get behind Sinn Féin.
“The proof is in the dramatic decline in the polls of Sinn Féin’s vote share – from an estimated 35% in recent polls to just under 12% in the last local and European elections.”
“Clearly the emergence of a far-right movement in Ireland has been used to shift the political dial in this country to the right.
"The political establishment and sections of the wealthy elite have tilted towards stoking racism as a divide-and-rule tactic to maintain their position.
“They use the scapegoating of immigrants and refugees to divert anger from their own failure to address crises in housing, health, public services and deep economic inequality.
“We think Sinn Féin’s reluctance to clearly oppose the government’s scapegoating of asylum seekers was a big mistake and only legitimised the far right racist narrative.”
“There is now a clear left-right divide in Irish politics yet the leadership of Sinn Féin refuses to rule out coalition with Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael.
"It is surely obvious that no genuine left wing party that wants to seriously change Irish society by taking on the vested interests, could even consider entering a government with Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael.
"We only have to look at the fate of the Green Party and the Labour Party when they acted as mudguards for the Thatcherite parties.
“In the past, Sinn Féin leaders have argued that it would be different if Sinn Féin were the majority partner in such a coalition.
"We disagreed then and still do because even if they were a minority Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael would exercise a veto on any radical change.
“Current polling figures suggest that the prospect that Sinn Féin can be a majority partner in such a coalition has diminished greatly.
"We therefore appeal to Sinn Féin to rule out joining a Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael in coalition and to embrace a left wing united electoral pact with a clear ‘vote left-transfer left’ slogan.”