John Looby: So, what is Sinn Féin for?

Sinn Féin has been on the wrong side of every debate that mattered. On Europe, on FDI, on fiscal credibility, and on Northern Ireland, they have been consistently wrong

Sinn Féin's President Mary Lou McDonald. The party's march to power had seemed unstoppable until the explosion of tribal hatred in Dublin last November.

Ahead of the General Election, Sinn Féin is in trouble. The easy promise of cheap houses, painless unity and open borders is fraying, while the tetchy cynicism and patchy alchemy of their new migration and housing policies reek of panic.

Until recently, the party's march to power had seemed unstoppable. With a rainbow flag in one hand and a tricolour in the other, poll after poll blazoned their dogged advance.