Sinn Féin Lost 2024 Power Bid as Anti-Immigrant Backlash Eroded Working-Class Base
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Sep 5
Sinn Féin Lost 2024 Power Bid as Anti-Immigrant Backlash Eroded Working-Class Base
1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Sep 5
Summary
Siobhán Fenton’s new insider book says Sinn Féin’s expected march to power collapsed in 2024 as anti-immigrant anger spread through Dublin strongholds and left the party flat-footed.
24.5% support in Ireland’s 2020 election and a 2022 breakthrough in Northern Ireland had put Mary Lou McDonald’s party on course for government, but Fenton says leaders missed how far xenophobia and far-right activism had penetrated its base.
May 2024 local and European elections exposed the damage after voters in working-class areas branded McDonald a “traitor” for resisting tougher migration curbs, and Sinn Féin later failed to unseat Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in the general election.
€300,000 house-price remarks and McDonald’s response to the November 2023 Dublin riot compounded the slide, while housing shortages, living-cost pressures and weakened grassroots networks made immigration a defining fault line.
Ireland’s opposition party now remains squeezed between voters demanding a harder line and supporters favoring solidarity, making immigration a central test before the next election.