Irish Examiner view: Real issues cross political divide

As the assembly elections in the North approach, both Sinn Féin and the DUP are campaigning on issues that appeal across the board to voters

Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald and the party's leader in the North, Michelle O'Neill. Ms McDonald has appealed to unionists to create a 'partnership' in her party’s efforts to build a new Ireland. Picture: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

When it comes to elections of late, the phrase ‘the most important in a generation’ seems to be bandied about with considerable elan.

That is most certainly the case when it comes to the assembly elections in the North on May 5, when it is predicted that politics in the six counties will reach an inflection point and end a century in which the largest party came from the unionist community.

Recent polls in the North, much like those taken concomitantly in the 26 counties, are predicting big gains for Sinn Féin and, if they are to be taken at face value, will result in it becoming the largest party in Stormont.

In recent days, the results of those polls have seen something of a change in tack from Sinn Féin in terms of its attempts to garner greater popular appeal. This weekend, leader Mary Lou McDonald appealed to unionists to create a “partnership” in her party’s efforts to build a new Ireland.

Her plaintive pitch that people from the unionist tradition must have an equal part in the building of Sinn Féin’s vision of a united Ireland will have sat well with her own constituency but is unlikely to have cut much mustard with opponents.

At the same time, Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Jeffrey Donaldson, in his efforts to motivate the unionist vote and stymie potential Sinn Féin domination of the Northern Ireland Assembly, declared the election to be a battle for Northern Ireland itself. In trying to galvanise typically unionist voters, he predicted that a win for the biggest nationalist party would only accelerate its aim to hold a referendum on Irish unity.

The irony in all of this is that both Sinn Féin and the DUP are, in reality, campaigning on issues that appeal across the board to Northern Irish voters — assisting working families, dealing with the cost-of-living crisis, reducing health waiting lists, and growing the economy. These are real things that affect real people.

However, the political divide is still such that traditional fearmongering by either side represents the majority of the demagoguery being engaged in and will continue to until election day. Quite what that will achieve will only emerge after May 5.