Summary
Mark Carruthers is in Dublin to talk to Daniel McConnell, Michael Brennan and Lucinda Creighton about how the rise of Sinn Féin in the Republic continues.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | There was a time not so very long ago when you think about it that business leaders, representatives of civic society and fellow politicians in the Republic, seem to be uncomfortable being seen around Sinn Féin. |
| 0:11.0 | But all that's changing, just as the party's electoral strength is on the rise. |
| 0:15.8 | For this week's red lines, we're in Dublin and we're here to find out how the political landscape is changing and what that means for the chances of Sinn Féin making the move from a party of opposition to a party of government. |
| 0:27.1 | And my guests today have followed that political journey every step of the way. |
| 0:31.8 | Daniel McConnell is the political editor of the Irish Examiner. |
| 0:35.6 | Michael Brennan is his opposite number at the Sunday Business |
| 0:38.7 | Post. And Lucinda Crouton is a former Finnegill Minister for European Affairs who now runs her own |
| 0:43.8 | public affairs company. You're all very welcome to Red Lines. Thank you for joining me today. |
| 0:47.9 | Daniel McConnell, first of all, two years ago, Sinn Féin did very well at the polls and was bitterly |
| 0:53.4 | disappointed not to find a way to get into government. |
| 0:56.6 | That outcome was clearly no flash in the pan and with every month that's past the party has consolidated its position |
| 1:02.0 | to the point where the public conversation in the Republic is all about what Sinn Féin will do in government. |
| 1:08.3 | It's been quite a journey. |
| 1:09.8 | It certainly has and if you go back, |
| 1:11.4 | just eight or nine months before the February 2020 general election, Sinn Féin had a disastrous |
| 1:16.2 | day, both in the local and European elections. And eight months before that, their candidate |
| 1:21.6 | for the presidential election here in Ireland, Leonie Reader bombed spectacularly. So what all the narrative at that stage was, |
| 1:29.1 | the transition from Jerry Adams to Mary Lou McDonnell was not going according to plan. Now, |
| 1:33.4 | there was a significant rethink within the party. I think they were badly stung by being that |
| 1:37.5 | very loud, angry party of opposition without producing any sort of solutions that worked |
| 1:42.7 | in the teeth of austerity in 2014 and 2015. |
| 1:46.0 | It was not resonating with the public in 2019. |
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