SF must get to grips with reality

TALL, clean-cut and with boyish enthusiasm, the new TD smiled his way past the flashing cameras outside of Leinster House, looking for all the world like a smart young businessman in hot pursuit of a glittering career in the city.

But Pearse Doherty will represent Sinn Féin in Dáil Eireann, a party that has yet to come to grips with the reality of global interdependence.

That party’s lack of experience and its preoccupation with nationalism would render its input of little relevance in the current crisis.

That apart, the Sinn Féin leader in Dáil Eireann, Caoimhin O’Caolain, has yet to make any meaningful contribution to Dáil debate.

Sweeping, confrontational statements and uncosted proposals on the economy are an insult to the people who elected him.

Now that Sinn Féin is pushing for speaking rights in the Dáil, perhaps they will let the electorate know how they intend to row back on the upcoming budget while simultaneously providing €400,000,000 per week simply to keep our country afloat. And why does Sinn Féin remain so remarkably silent on the obscenity of benchmarking which was the trigger for bloated salaries and which left our country unable to compete in global markets? Who knows, Doherty might yet be the one who will to bring Sinn Féin in from the cold. But the party must first rid itself of many within its ranks who view any form of capitalism as an affront to human dignity.

Niall Ginty

The Demesne

Killester

Dublin 5