We need leaders for the future, not from the dark and discredited past

THE latest disastrous MRBI opinion poll for Fianna Fáil has it just two points ahead of Sinn Féin when it comes to voter preferences now, just months ahead of the coming general election.

Just as Fianna Fáil hits its lowest ever rating of 17% — the same level as in another Red C poll two weeks ago — Sinn Féin hits its highest ever approval rating south of the border, with an anticipated 15% share of the vote. Could Sinn Féin be about to do to Fianna Fáil in the south what it did to the SDLP in the north?

Just as many people seem to have forgotten that Sinn Fein’s main role in life once was to act as apologist for the sick terrorist activities of the IRA — an organisation that engaged in murderous acts that could not be justified by any cause or war — they also forget that the SDLP was once the dominant force in northern republican politics. It believed in fighting for the right things with words, not bombs or bullets, of convincing its opponents through reason, not intimidation.