Jim Gibney

the final week of campaigning.

To be fair to Bacik, she has a long and admirable track record of campaigning on issues of civil liberties, including abortion rights, same sex marriage, and the scandal of Mother and Baby Homes. She lives in the constituency and was a high profile Senator and former European election candidate.

The by-election saw a very solid campaign for Sinn Féin’s Lynn Boylan who – although she did not win – ran a positive, progressive campaign in a difficult constituency for the party, with a sharp focus on the most pressing issues, particularly housing and consolidating the party’s support here. Boylan forced the issue of housing to the centre of the by-election debate and this has put further pressure on the government parties. Not long ago, it would have been difficult to imagine Sinn Féin contending for a seat in such a Fine Gael stronghold. However, at the first count, Lynn Boylan had a total of 4,245 first preference votes – 15.8% of the total vote – and retained the breakthrough support won by sitting Sinn Féin TD Chris Andrews in last year’s general election. In the working class areas of the constituency, Lynn dominated.

In the end, she was eliminated on the eighth count with a total of 5,237 votes which is very positive for Chris Andrews holding his seat at the next general election.

The result is a hammer blow to Fine Gael as this was a seat held by the party in a constituency where they came close to taking two seats in the General Election.

For Fine Gael now to be without a TD in what has always been a

Boylan forced the issue of housing to the centre of the by-election debate and this has put further major Fine Gael stronghold is a severe setback for Leo Varadkar’s leadership. This remember is the constituency of former Fine Gael pressure on the leaders Garret Fitzgerald and John A Costello. The party now drops government to 34 seats in the Dáil, behind the 37 for Sinn Féin and 37 for Fianna Fáil. parties

• Fine Gael candidate James Geoghegan with leader Leo Varadkar

• Eoghan Murphy • Kate O’Connell

JIM GIBNEY takes us through a polling day odyssey as he helped get the Sinn Féin vote out for the Dublin Bay South election

Hope and history in Dublin Bay South

“You can’t miss the house, Jim. There’s a poster of Lynn above the front door”, Sam said.

But, I first had to find the house. It was in Mackin Street which I eventually found via Pearse Street, named after Padraig Pearse who led the 1916 Rising.

It induced historical meanderings. Pearse Street was formerly known as Brunswick Street and it was there, in April 1920, an intense and lengthy gun battle took place between the IRA and the Black and Tans during which several people died.

As I turned into Mackin Street, I could see Mount Street Bridge, the site of another huge battle during Easter Week, between the Volunteers of 1916 and the British Army, during which the British lost heavily.

On this street, there is the Pearse Centre in the former family home of Patrick and Willie, and beside it one of Dublin’s soup kitchens – what an ironic contrast of history.

My reminisces came to a welcome end when I spotted Lynn Boylan’s poster as described by Sam. And he was right, you couldn’t miss the house, with the striking poster of Lynn, former MEP and now Seanadoir, carefully placed for maximum impact on passers-by.

I find that about Sam, when it comes to exactitude and getting details right – especially details about elections.

He has qualities I met in his recently deceased father when we used to meet, when Sam and his brothers were children and his parents, Joe and Edna, were finding their feet in Belfast, a city at war, in the mid ‘70s, following Joe’s deportation from England.

When I see Sam Baker at election time, I relax and I am particularly relaxed if I see him in the company of Peter Lynch.

They are a powerful double-act, who provide outstanding leadership on many fronts, particularly when it comes to anything to do with

• Labour candidate Ivana Bacik with leader what’s his name?

But it was also a truly dreadful day out for Fianna Fáil. Conroy struggled to get enough votes to keep her deposit. On the first count, she received 1,247 votes, a mere 4.6% of first preferences and 9.2% down on Fianna Fáil’s 2020 general election result.

This kind of result is unheard of for a government party led by

• Mícheál Martin • Deirdre Conroy

the Taoiseach. The votes had not been fully counted before issues around Mícheál Martin’s continued leadership of Fianna Fáil resurfaced, with several Fianna Fáil TDs, some on record, briefing heavily against Martin and calling for his resignation.

If Fianna Fáil’s dire performance was repeated in a general election, it would see a loss of seats on a huge scale. It continues the historic downward trajectory for the party and comes just weeks after one of their own TDs described the party as “toxic and irrelevant” to a whole swathe of the population. And it was not just the two For Fine Gael bigger government parties which now to be suffered. The Greens vote also collapsed in the constituency of without a party leader Eamon Ryan. TD in what Much post-election commentary has focused on whether Ivan has always Bacik’s performance represents a change in Labour’s fortunes. The reality of course is that been a major Fine Gael Ivana Bacik’s profile, who has a long-established record as a campaigner, is actually bigger stronghold is a severe than the Labour Party itself, which is now a very minor player on the setback for Irish political landscape. Leo Varadkar’s An Ireland Thinks poll has shown that support for Bacik was leadership strongly related to her specific candidacy. Much more than other candidates, she received a personal vote (60% of those who voted for her) rather than one for her party.

There is also the feeling that Fine Gael divisions, sidelining a female former TD with a strong liberal profile, in favour of a male with a conservative track record played to Bacik’s advantage, particularly in terms of transfers. Fine Gael voters, over many years, are used to

elections; running the campaign, reading the turnout on polling day, predicting the turnout at close of poll, reading and predicting the result as the ballots fall from the ballot boxes onto the tables at the count. These are not places for the faint-hearted or those of a nervous disposition.

The late Siobhán O'Hanlon had the same calming effect on me. She had a great election brain, which was impressive in action, especially at close of poll, when everyone desperately wanted to know how Gerry Adams or any of the other Sinn Féin elected representatives in West Belfast fared.

On this occasion – polling day in the Dublin Bay by-election – Sam was in the company of much younger, yet formidable operators, on many fronts as well, including the election front; Rachel, formerly of the US, and Lauren from the Lower Falls.

They had, with the approval of the host family, taken over the kitchen and the three of them were huddled around the family’s dinner table, where a computer, not food, was the centre of attention.

On the computer screen and on hard copy in their hands was the all-powerful ‘election bible’ – the electoral register. The one document that brings joy and despair in equal measure. The one document that can make or break a candidate or indeed a party.

From inside the living room, I watched the experts at work as the canvass team leaders brought the immediate mood of the electorate into the make-shift election HQ, to be inserted first into the trios’ brains and then the computers’ brain.

I arrived around 4.30 pm and I could see from the reaction to the steady flow of information from the campaign managers that all was well in the Sinn Féin camp.

I was quickly assigned to a ‘door knocking’ team. My team leader was Aibhilin, from Derry, a university graduate, who is one of Mary Lou’s advisers and a niece of the now veteran (he will be raging at that) Derry/Belfast republican Peadar Whelan, former northern editor of An Phoblacht and ubiquitous photographer of the conflict for decades.

Aibhilin's father Liam and Peadar are brothers and spent years in the H-Blocks on the blanket protest for political status.

For the next few hours, gently and authoritatively the team was guided by Aibhilin from house to house and flat to flat at ground and higher levels.

We had an easy task encouraging people to come out to vote for Lynn. Most of those we canvassed were women of all ages and it was a joy to see the smiles on their faces as they told us ‘voted already’ or ‘on my way to vote’.

The canvass reminded me of the time I spent knocking doors in Tallaght for Mark Ward. The mood on the doors in that election was unreal and like Dublin Bay it was primarily women who were the most responsive and upbeat.

transferring to Labour with whom they have been coalition partners in successive governments.

Polling also indicates that Bacik’s vote strongly correlated with that for Green Party leader Eamon Ryan in 2020 and much of her support came from the 14.4% decline in support for the Green Party.

Bacik made no significant inroads within working class areas, which is unsurprising considering that she has consistently supported the brutal austerity policies of governments involving Labour, which inflicted so much harm on ordinary people.

Despite the valiant efforts of elements within the media to revive Labour’s relevance, the Dublin Bay South result will undoubtedly prove to be the exception as opposed to the rule.

Fine Gael’s willingness to engage in shameless class snobbery was exposed during the by-election campaign with crass social media messages warning that working class areas of the constituency were experiencing high voter turnout, and appealing to their supporters not to “let Sinn Féin in”.

Varadkar’s hopes of a poll boost for Fine Gael relating to the vaccine rollout or ending of severe lockdown measures demonstrated the government’s underestimation of the frustration and anger over the housing crisis, as well as inequalities in employment conditions and income and within health system and childcare services.

First preferences for the government parties was just over 37% - a huge fall from 64% in the general election.

While merely a snapshot of opinion in a very untypical constituency, the by-election has nevertheless highlighted again the unpopularity of the policies of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

It has also underlined Sinn Féin’s position as the preeminent voice of ordinary, working people and whose policies are speaking to those most affected by the government’s abysmal handling of the housing crisis.

As society emerges from the pandemic and other issues come into even clearer focus, the challenge for Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, and the Greens will only increase. Government support is eroding fast and the mood for a general election is growing.

It is clear too that Sinn Féin’s phenomenal and historic 2020 General Election result was no ‘flash in the pan’. The process of real and fundamental political change continues. ■

Seán MacBrádaigh is a Sinn Féin political activist

Around 8pm, I drew breath in the front garden of ‘HQ’. I was suddenly surrounded by other ‘door knockers’.

All young, all enthusiastic, and from all parts of Ireland – a section of the sizeable contingent from Ógra Sinn Féin led by Caoimhín McCann, its Cathaoirleach, who were dotted across the constituency.

There was Julietta from Cavan who fulsomely praised former TD Caoimhghín O Caoláin who was always on hand to help her and other young people locally.

There was Pete from Monaghan a young farmer who had finished his day’s work and headed to help Lynn.

There was Joe from Kerry, Conor from Newry, Darragh from Dublin, Eoin from Leitrim – all students at universities; Trinity, UCD, DCU, and Queens.

I was like Bamber Gasgoine of University Challenge as I asked each one what they were studying; economics and applied economics, politics, history, and Spanish.

Darragh told me that young people in Raheny were joining Sinn Féin to help change the local area and became interested in a united Ireland when they realised it was the party’s main objective.

There was Liam Lappin, whom I first met when he was a student and has progressed through the ranks of the party and is now one its experienced leaders. It was an evening for a song, but unfortunately Liam hadn’t brought his guitar.

So, in the absence of musical entertainment, we ‘shot the breeze’, talking about my favourite topic – the economic benefits of a united Ireland. Ably assisted by the economists in the company, topics included; the economic merits of a highspeed train from Belfast to Dublin, the decentralisation of economic planning, and of course by how many votes would Lynn win the seat.

And, when we were all getting too carried away, Caoimhín McCann interjected with a sobering thought – the price of a pint in Dublin, 7 euros. Between the laughs, there was utter disbelief when I told them that for £1 in 1970 you could buy five bottles of beer. And I had.

Just before I paid thanks to the family for the generous use of their home, I had a fascinating conversation about the origins of Covid-19 with the daughter of the house, Nikita, who by profession investigated bacteria but was on secondment to the health service to battle the virus. She was in command of her post and her arguments; too many for this piece.

It was time to go.

As I walked past the pub at the top of the street – in the open air because of Covid, I heard a rousing chorus of imbibers chanting ‘Up the ‘Ra’, Up the ‘Ra’ Up the ‘Ra’.

Need I say anymore? ■

Jim Gibney is a former political prisoner and parliamentary adviser to Senator Niall Ó Donnghaile