Sinn Féin targeting 55 seats in next general election in push to lead government

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald: 'We need to maximise our number of candidates. Selection conventions, filling tickets, balancing tickets is a massive undertaking in any political party, so that process is underway.' Picture: Brian Lawless

Sinn Féin is aiming to take at least 55 seats in the next election, as the party ramps up its preparations to lead the next government.

Buoyed by six months of positive opinion polling, the party will look to run a minimum of 80 candidates when the next election is called. Former TD for Cork North-Central Jonathan O'Brien is already playing a role in selecting candidates, even though an election could be as far as three years away.

Party sources have told the Irish Examiner that planning is underway around which constituencies are being targeted for multiple seats, with the expectation that many top names will be tasked with bringing in running mates. Areas such as Waterford, Dublin Bay North, and Dublin South West are being touted as areas where Sinn Féin will aim to build on existing seats, with Green Party seats in Waterford and Dublin South West among those targeted. Sinn Féin sources say that of the Green Party's 12 seats, "around eight" could be targeted, with Waterford, Wicklow, Dublin Central, Dublin Fingal, Dublin West, and Dublin South Central included.

Twice the quota

In 2020, Sinn Féin's Waterford TD David Cullinane took over 20,000 first preference votes, nearly twice the quota, and he is likely to have two running mates in the next election, with the party believing it has an outside shot at taking three seats in the four-seater.

Sources say that will be replicated across the board, with multiple candidates to be run in all constituencies.

"Whereas in 2020, you would have had to make an argument for two candidates, you will probably have to make the opposite next time," a senior party source said.

"If a call is marginal, we will probably have to take the risk."

Speaking to the Irish Examiner before Christmas, the party's leader Mary Lou McDonald said that the next election would be "a test" for Sinn Féin's capacity. However, other party sources have said that its experience running elections across the island will stand to it.

Ms McDonald said: "The test for us will be to run the right political programme, to run the right number of candidates, I literally can't walk outside those gates [Leinster House] without somebody stopping me and telling me off for not running the right number of candidates last time.

"So we need to maximise our number of candidates. Selection conventions, filling tickets, balancing tickets is a massive undertaking in any political party, so that process is underway. 

"We will run a lot of candidates and I will hopefully correct my error last time around. I've given up even trying to defend why we ran that number of candidates, but lessons learned."

Ms McDonald declined to say how many constituencies Sinn Féin would run three candidates in, saying only it would be "a number", but said that the party would have to run a large number of candidates. She said that the party is preparing for government, with sources saying Sinn Féin will remain open to talking to other parties much the same way that it did in 2020.

I think the polls reflect the fact that the February 2020 election wasn't an anomaly. It wasn't just a moment of protest. 

"I was very sure in the course of that election and after it that people who voted for us, voted for us to be in government to make a difference and to change things. 

"If anything, that sentiment has grown.

"I've said to our team, particularly our front bench, that we need to get ready, and that when I say to people we want to be in government I mean it."

Sources say that one key to Sinn Féin's ambitions will be making the party "more transfer-friendly" in an attempt to take the last seat in constituencies.

"The downside of the polls is that I've heard some commentary saying it's a foregone conclusion that Sinn Féin will be in government and insinuating that we think, that I think, it's a foregone conclusion. I do not. I'm at this far too long to be foolish enough to take the people's confidence or votes for granted. But we are in a very, very strong position to challenge for power."