Irish Examiner View: Sinn Féin tops poll - Inequities feed hunger for change

One of the mantras — more a well-considered muddying of the waters — of the Troubles, and of the years that immediately followed those decades of carnage, was that “there can be no hierarchy of victims”.

The phrase was unquestioned, despite its obvious flaws. It helped drive the evolution that, according to an Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI opinion poll, has made Sinn Féin the most popular party in this Republic. Just days before our election, that poll put SF on 25%, Fianna Fáil on 23%, and Fine Gael third on 20%.