Sinn Féin support ‘not protest vote’ – Clarke

Sinn Féin are serious about entering government and are open to “speaking to everybody”, Sorca Clarke says.

Although it looks highly probable that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will form the next government with the support of independent TDs or one of the smaller parties, Clarke says that Sinn Féin’s position is the same as it was before the election; they are willing to speak to all of the different groupings in the Dáil.

She added that with FF and FG winning less than 43% of the first preference vote, the make-up of the next government should reflect the fragmented nature of the political landscape.

“If you look back down over the vote share, even over the last three or four elections, there is a definite move away from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. That should be reflected in a government that needs to provide stability, that needs to provide confidence to people that the state will meet their needs, be it in terms of health, be it in terms of education, or even the basic need of having somewhere to live.

“We have one in four people waiting on a hospital appointment, nearly 200 children are without a school place. We have almost 15,000 people officially registered homeless through the Department of Housing, which, bear in mind, does not take into consideration those who are provided with emergency accommodation at night, or those who may be in emergency accommodation because of domestic violence, or those living in their parents’ box rooms.

“The focus needs to be on delivery for the people who put us into these roles. We’re expecting the next government to perform to a much higher standard than what the previous ones did when it came to tackling those big issues that are impacting everybody’s life, every single day.”

Regarding Sinn Féin’s election performance, Clarke says her party performed solidly and its support can no longer be viewed as a protest vote.

“We returned 39 TDs, the largest group of Sinn Féin TDs in over 100 years. Certain media outlets and certain people were beside themselves saying that our results in 2020 was some kind of a fluke. The return of 39 TDs and being the second biggest party in the Oireachtas says something different. “It isn’t a protest vote. It’s people who are thinking, ‘Who has my best interest at heart?’ and are coming out to vote for it. And remember, there were a couple of areas where we came really close to taking additional seats and that is laying the path and the groundwork for the next general election.”