Fergus Finlay: It looks like nothing will stop Sinn Féin from coming to power

Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald and Finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty.

So here’s a focus group for you. It’s not a representative sample, but focus groups aren’t meant to be. It’s serious people, all around my age, both genders, mixed political views, having a serious discussion about Irish politics. They are wise, with the experience of age and hundreds of years of work between them. There was wine and cheese involved (very bourgeois!) but nobody was slurring their words. The conversations got animated at times, but never too heated.

I tried to steer the discussion into things like, who do you trust? Who do you like? Is there a difference? What do you want to happen? What do you think is going to happen? What are you hoping for? What are you afraid of?