Elaine Loughlin: Lack of front bench change suggests SF is not serious about governing
Pressed on the lack of change in her front bench, Sinn Fén leader Mary Lou McDonald said: 'Let me tell you, if any other party had Pearse Doherty in finance and Eoin Ó Broin in housing and David Cullinane in health they wouldn’t change them either.' Picture: Gráinne Ní Aodha/PA
In failing to refresh her top team, Mary Lou McDonald has signalled that her party of change is not serious about a future in government.
McDonald’s new front bench, unveiled to align with the recently-appointed Cabinet, looks very much the same as pervious iterations, with the high-profile and highly coveted spokesperson positions of finance, housing, and health remaining unchanged along with the party’s chief whip.
There is merit in retaining people with ability and knowledge in place to ensure continuity. But McDonald has now engineered a situation where some of the most senior figures within the party have only one area of expertise, putting them at an acute disadvantage in the longer term.
Unless Sinn Féin can return with a hefty overall majority after the next general election, the party will be faced with an uncomfortable conundrum. McDonald is simply storing up the challenge that she will have to grapple in exchange for entering power.
Sinn Féin’s Dáil deputy leader Pearse Doherty has now served as the party’s finance spokesman for almost 15 years.
In 2010, the Donegal TD took over the portfolio as the country was emerging from the financial downturn. The newly-elected TD vowed to “take forward my vision in the Dáil and the vision of the party in relation to how we can provide a better and fairer alternative in relation to budgetary matters and the banking crisis”.
The hangover from the Celtic Tiger crash may have long lifted, but Doherty will remain on in the 34th Dáil as finance spokesperson.
Also retaining his position is Eoin Ó Broin who has literally written several books on housing and has been the party spokesman on the area since his election to the Dáil in 2016.
Likewise, David Cullinane remains on in health, chief whip Pádraig Mac Lochlainn stays put, as does the party’s spokesman on Gaeilge, Aengus Ó Snodaigh.
Strongly defending her decision to keep the same chefs stirring the same pots, McDonald said: “Those that have stayed on in their portfolios have a huge amount of expertise and experience.”
When pressed again on the lack of change from the party whose own tagline has been change, McDonald said:
"You will see in those three policy areas, and beyond, we have the quality, we have the experience, and we have the right policy platform. So, I will happily hitch my wagon to Pearse Doherty and Eoin Ó Broin and David Cullinane in their respective briefs.”
All three may have proved strong spokesmen in opposition, but confronted with the possibility of going into a coalition government, Sinn Féin will not have the opportunity to retain these personalities in the same portfolios which they have now occupied for multiple terms.
Hammering out a programme for government and a coalition arrangement with another party, or indeed several other groups, would require give and take and the hiving off of ministerial portfolios.
Other left-leaning parties such as Labour or People Before Profit would likely want to take control of housing and implement their own policies in this area.
The Social Democrats would put forward a strong argument to take over health, given the party’s focus on Sláintecare and women’s healthcare.
A deal with Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael, unlikely as it may seem now, would insist on retaining the rotation between finance and public expenditure.
McDonald’s reluctance to change those in key portfolios means that if she is determined to enter government she will be forced to put some of her most senior TDs into ministries that they have absolutely no experience in. It begs the question: Is Sinn Féin really serious about governing at all?
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