Ireland’s general election took place on 8 February 2020. Irish society has undergone intense social, economic, and demographic changes over recent decades, which has created a stark generational divide in voting patterns. The result was unexpected and extraordinary in a number of respects. The left-wing nationalist party, Sinn Féin, for the first time, received the highest share of votes in a general election. The party has been long associated with the nationalist terrorist group the Irish Republican Army, and has led to a massive change to the status quo in the Irish political landscape. Previously Irish politics has been dominated by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael since the foundation of the Irish state in 1922. It can be argued that the Irish party system is even more fragmented than it was in 2016, and the 2020 results are historically among the worst ever for the three established parties.
The result reflected a dissatisfaction among voters, specifically young people, with the circumstances they feel has failed to address poor living standards and failing public services even while the economy was booming. The frustration was driven by anger over a lack of affordable housing, severe homelessness, poverty, and long hospital waiting times. Sinn Féin campaigned on these issues, promising higher taxes for the wealthy and large conglomerates, many of which are based in Dublin. Its results show the party appears as a less militant nationalist party, and a more socialist party sensitive to the requirements of a young electorate, hungry for change.
However, Sinn Féin did not run enough candidates to fully take advantage of its electoral growth. The party’s poor showing in the 2019 local elections, along with their perception that the Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, had increased his standing through his management of the Brexit stand-off, prompted it to run a cautious election campaign. As a result, Sinn Féin fell short of the seats needed to form a governing coalition.
Consequently, in June 2020, the two main parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael struck an agreement to govern together for the first time, which began an unpredictable chapter in Irish politics especially as the country unites after the economic outcome from the coronavirus pandemic. The leaders of the parties, Micheál Martin and Leo Varadkar signed off on an agenda for a coalition government that includes the Green Party. They were eager to keep Sinn Fein out of the government.
The new government will face vastly more difficult challenges than either party expected before the election. The leaders agreed to a fiscally expensive stimulus program that will run through 2022 to ‘repair the damage that has been inflicted by the pandemic.’
As a condition of joining the coalition, the Green Party has several policies including the delivery of a Green New Deal: targeting net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, achieving at least 70% renewable electricity by 2030, and undertaking a significant building modification programme, among other policies. They are aiming to aid the world in overcoming its greatest challenge of restoring biodiversity and reversing the effects of climate change in order to be more sustainable socially, economically, and environmentally.
By Anya V
Comments