Euro elections

There is apparently a Euro election coming. The only poster I have seen so far are Sinn Féin’s. (“Daddy, Bairbre de Brún is up our lamp-post!” “Well, tell her to get down.” I jest, of course.) It is, of course, testament to the SF party machine that they are so quick off the mark.

Will they have a good campaign? I can see de Brún getting a seat in the not so-occupied Six Counties but am not so sure down South. The party’s other MEP, Mary Lou McDonald, is defending her Euro seat but will not be running for the Dáil in the forthcoming by-election in Dublin Central. That surely is a major surprise and all the waffle from Sinn Féin about clashing dates and deadlines is just that – waffle. If McDonald, SF vice-president let’s not forget, is really to make her mark on domestic politics she needs to be in the Dáil, not in Brussels. It seems that Sinn Féin don’t believe that one of their most high-profile candidates can win the seat. Of course, the real nightmare scenario for McDonald is losing the Euro seat too. Big stakes indeed.

Perhaps equally surprising is the news that SF stalwart in Dublin, Councillor Christy Burke, is tipped to run in the by-election in her place. Undoubtedly, he is synonymous with the party but he is hardly the youthful, modern image that Sinn Féin have been trying to portray in recent years. Are Sinn Féin finding it as hard as other parties to get young candidates?