Sinn Féin’s Dark Moment: How Far-Right Rhetoric Derailed Ireland’s Path to Power – Exploring the Rise of Anti-Paddywagon Sentiment and Its Impact on Sinn Féin’s Electoral Success

The May 2024 Campaign Confrontation and the Far-Right Backlash in Dublin

Siobhán Fenton, who served as a media adviser to party leader Mary Lou McDonald, experienced the volatile shift in public mood firsthand in May 2024. While canvassing in the passageway of an inner-city block of flats in Dublin, Fenton was pelted with coins thrown from an overhead balcony. A man’s voice shouted, Sinn Féin traitors! adding, Mary Lou Mohammad! Ireland is full! According to Fenton, the incident left her with gashes and bruises that accurately augured a difficult electoral outcome.

Reflecting on the party’s delayed realization of the shifting political landscape, Fenton stated, By the time the party realised how bad things had gotten it was almost too late, and added, The far right had infiltrated lots of Sinn Féin strongholds and we hadn’t picked up on it. This dynamic disrupted what was widely expected to be a triumphant run in the local and European elections.

Inside the Insider Account: Ourselves Alone: Sinn Féin Behind Closed Doors

Published this week, Fenton’s book titled Ourselves Alone: Sinn Féin Behind Closed Doors offers a rare insider look at the party’s internal structures and strategic missteps. The text details a period of genuine crisis for an organization that many perceive as highly secretive. Fenton, who is 34 and originally from a middle-class Belfast family favoring constitutional nationalism, joined the party in early 2020 after working in journalism and research.

Describing the initial atmosphere within the organization following its breakthrough in the general election—where the party secured 24.5% of first-preference votes—Fenton noted the palpable sense of momentum. However, a Belfast colleague had cautioned her about the high stakes of transferring northern success to the south, warning, Don’t fuck it up.

Fenton’s perspective offers a counterweight to external perceptions of the party. She noted the organizational paralysis that occurred when leadership confronted grassroots hostility. There was a moment of genuine sheer panic and just not knowing what to do, she explained. We were struggling to adapt because it was a sense that things had started to spiral out of control.

The Long Fall: Policy Missteps, Housing Pressures, and Grassroots Blind Spots

The unravelling of Sinn Féin’s electoral momentum involved a combination of public relations missteps and volatile socioeconomic conditions. In November 2023, a riot rocked Dublin, and party leader Mary Lou McDonald appeared to place blame on police handling. Furthermore, middle-class property owners were rattled when the party suggested that average Dublin house prices should fall to €300,000.

Simultaneously, an influx of migrants and refugees—compounded by severe housing shortages, a cost-of-living crisis, and active far-right organizing online and on the streets—created fertile ground for xenophobia. Fenton identified this as a major oversight, noting that COVID-19 restrictions and a heavy focus on parliamentary work had withered traditional grassroots networking. Consequently, leaders remained unaware of how deeply conspiracy theories and anti-Muslim sentiment had penetrated working-class bases.

Addressing how the party should have handled the ideological shift, Fenton argued that leaders needed to pull people away from their smartphones to conduct really difficult conversations. She suggested they should have gone door to door, talk about community concerns but be very, very clear that scapegoating immigrants and refugees is the wrong response.

Electoral Consequences and the Path Forward for the Party

The political cost of these overlooked tensions manifested clearly in the May 2024 local and European elections, where working-class voters branded McDonald a traitor over immigration stances. Following these setbacks, the party performed below expectations in a subsequent general election, leaving Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in power and Sinn Féin remaining in opposition.

After her contract was not renewed, Fenton returned to Belfast to work as a writer and analyst, and she is no longer a member of Sinn Féin. Assessing the ongoing challenge of immigration for the party’s future, Fenton noted that leaders might be tempted to delay taking a firm stance until the next electoral cycle. It will be dependent on what the political environment looks like then, she stated.