Anyone analysing the election results will notice one big trend beyond the decline of political Unionism – the republican vote is alive and People Before Profit’s support is dying. Mr. Carroll is becoming the lone dim candle in the old gothic cathedral, with the wax burning faster than exchequer wood-pellets. Within less than a year they have lost thousands of votes in West Belfast and even managed to lose a seat in Foyle, despite an array of transfer-friendly candidates in that constituency. Their vote share in some of the other constituencies remained largely stagnant despite the collapse of the Executive.
Let’s be honest, this should have been an opportunity for People Before Profit to capitalise on the fall of a government at the hands of financial scandal. They had every shrewd chance to play the “red card” by claiming “Orange and Green” politics has failed. And now that firebrand Mr. McCann has finally been jettisoned off to the state pension system once and for all. Any sensible person will shed few tears to see the back of Derry’s Trotskyist Brexiteer.
Of course the question must be asked, why? Why have people rejected them? Well, what exactly has Gerry Carroll delivered, both at Council and Assembly level? What is he in a position to deliver when none of his party colleagues will hold any Ministerial seats? Why would the British and Irish Governments even bother to listen to his dogma? The people of West Belfast have woken up to the end-game which he would sleep-walk them into. They know Mr. Carroll can’t deliver on the Irish Language or stand up to the Unionists; They know Mr. Carroll can’t guarantee funding for legacy inquests; They know he won’t ensure equal marriage at the Executive table; And they also know that on the national question he’s slippery (which perhaps explains why quite a few hardline Loyalists were casting their votes for him).
Never one to reflect on what he’s going to say beforehand, he told the media that the poor showing was as a result of a lack of resources compared to “establishment parties” – How does that explain the seismic loss of first preference votes he got in the 2016 Election just months ago? Surely resources weren’t a problem then. The problem, Gerry, is You and your Party; It’s populist demagoguery; It’s stupid suggestions that we could become a Marxist state without any economic sovereignty; And the insult to people’s intelligence that somehow you and your mates could negotiate more money from the British Government. That’s why you’ve lost support. Either you don’t understand the implications of what you say, or you do understand but don’t care.
Theoretically, the people of West Belfast know that if you want to radically alter things you need both mass support and the power to legislate for change – not just standing at protests with picket signs, but applying that ethos to the business of government. Realpolitik, to be precise. They have the assurance to trust those who bore the brunt of British militarism and deaths quads before you were even born. Now, I predicted that the sun would set on People Before Profit’s skyline sooner rather than later. I compared the support they got to Chamberlain and the Munich Accord of 1938 – once people seen what they had gotten themselves into they revolted; favouring instead those who actually favour the national interest and the reunification of their nation.
Likewise, Mr. McCann has only himself to blame. His car-crash interview on Nolan revealed what many have always suspected about the man – that he pays little attention to details and all his attention to rhetoric. And for all their weight in words, nobody in People Before Profit has ever been able to conjure up practical and realistic solutions to the problems facing our society – Brexit, Tory-imposed cuts, RHI, legacy inquests, the NHS, growing the economy, housing and welfare reform. They are an embarrassment; Not an asset to the Left but a liability.
But to Mr. Carroll, I say this – Hold onto your seatbelt boyo because republicanism is revitalised and hungry; we are coming after you; and in the jungle of politics crocodiles take no prisoners!
well,what has gerry carrol delivered…..
well,what exactly has any of them delivered.and dont be saying a plastic beg tax,or not letting prossies earn a living.
I reckon PBP were in immediate decline once they effectively supported the bringing back of hard Borders and their support of The DUP Brexit Campaign !
They appear to be also moving away from AAA / Solidarity in the 26 Counties – no mention of theybeing part of the newly launched name yesterday ?
Carroll comes from a Republican Family background. They must be mortified at his recent votes ?
People Before Profit are not in favour of Hard Border, Soft Borders, or any other sort of Borders. Neither did they support the DUP’s Brexit campaign. You should check your facts before you smear.
If there is another election you’ll no doubt be gloating over the demise of the SDLP and the Alliance party as people rush to the extreme politics of the “big” two. That worked well over the last ten years.
The sectarian narrative that the media is trying to flog doesn’t wash here Doiminic. If you think that Sinn Féin is an extremist party then you must think that a United Ireland free from English rule is an extremist idea.
The SDLP pay lip service to the concept of a United Ireland much like their would-be partners in the south but don’t seem to want to do anything to achieve it. Moreover SDLP supporters seem to be more than content with their lives within the United Kingdom. Yeah we would love a United Ireland but not just yet . . .
Besides the SDLP is the closest thing that we have in the North to a Catholic party. Maybe you should start voting Alliance yourself.
I fully support a UI but one in which everyone is comfortable. I don’t believe England has any interest in Ireland and I believe in making NI work. SF need to justify their “struggle” and are preoccupied with that. Unionism under Foster has been a disaster and an ugly one at that. There’s room for reflection on all sides and the situation is more complicated by Brexit which has shaken up parties in the south. Further polarization is not the answer.
Domnic, fully supporting constitutional reunification of Ireland, frankly, we’ve never been otherwise divided other than in the day’s of the Railway Cup, but then wishing to make the occupied part of our nation work is surely at odds with itself.
For information, an interesting piece this morning.
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/380252-ireland-united-britain-brexit/
Another journalist who cannot get his thinking correct, which part of Ireland is Donegal south of?
I never believed all the commentary and hype and that is a sobering and realistic piece.
I can appreciate your sentiment Dominic but I cannot envisage myself ever being comfortable in the United Kingdom but then again I was never given any say in the matter. Maybe my comfort isn’t as important as other people’s comfort.
Regarding England – that is the British Government and all the people involved in it. I believe that their interest in Ireland lies in the influence they can exert over us by having a very strong foothold the country. The six counties work like a modern-day pale.
We have never found out how much money in taxes leave this place. How much natural resources in gold, oil or gas remains untapped. How much the huge British supermarkets take in at the border. How much of Ireland’s goods are transported from England through Larne, Belfast harbours. How much advertising revenue is worth through British television in Ireland ect ect.
People have accepted our occupation as somehow normal. It is not normal Doiminic and you are not being courteous for accepting it as such.
What does independence in a world of interdependence, in a Europe that has so many refugee people washing around like so much flotsam and jetsam. Things are happening at such an alarming rate that no one has time to think and reflect on what anything means. Independence for the 26 counties had thrown up some horrifying scenarios, Tuam babies, that people think was it worthwhile. Ireland is it’s people and all their hopes, needs and traditions, how do we effect that in our politics. The injustice of partition has to be realised slowly and dealt with sensitively; that is why making NI work is important, in order give people a breathing space to reflect properly on what has happened to us, especially those who have suffered most in our conflict. Hard positions such as those taken by Foster’s Unionism and now, Adam’s Republicanism won’t do. We have to change.
What does independence “mean” in a world of interdependence…..
Dominic, what do you mean when you say you want to make NI work?
Do you mean you want it to be as successful as possible within the constraints of a 6 county province of the UK, forced to operate in a single all island market spanning two disparate jurisdictions with separate administrations and disparate economies which will prove to be nothing less than utterly disastrous when one side leaves the EU single market?
“SF need to justify their “struggle” and are preoccupied with that”
The conflict was not started by Sinn Fein or even the IRA Dominic.
It was an attempt by leading figures within unionism such as Ian Paisley who feared demographic change and tried to drive out Catholics south of the border to maintain protestant control.
The british failed to address it properly or fairly and it resulted with their armed forces caught defending Catholics from blatant sectarian bigotry, hatred and discrimination that they could barely comprehend and assumed there must be some justifiable cause for it, and eventually sided with those under the same flag as themselves instead.
Their behaviour in both starting and enflaming the conflict was utterly despicable and it is no wonder they are terrified of the truth coming out, but it must be pursued relentlessly until it does come out.
Struggles for freedom from such acts do not need to be justified but the actions which occurred within that conflict do and all sides must do all that is possible to get as much of the truth out as possible. The british state are the furthest behind in this regard by a long long way and must step up to the mark.
If they don’t, the courts will gradually uncover more and more evidence until when it does come out, it will be more harmful to the british than shameful in light of their new post brexit path in particular.
The actions of the british state will be far more difficult to justify than the actions of the IRA in response. It is in their interests to find a settlement.
The death of People before Profit? This article is a bit silly to put it lightly. The party only started contesting the elections in the North a couple of years ago and they have managed to be elected to the assembly twice. People before Profit were never going to be big contenders in the North no more than they have been in the South. But I wouldn’t write them off just yet. There are only three minor parties elected in the assembly and PBP are one of them. I personally wouldn’t choose them as my first, second or even third preference but let’s not get spooked by a little bit of variety and colour in the assembly.
Donal, ‘down with that sort of thing’ as they say in Craggy Island.
PBP/AAA gave Sinn Féin a very bloody nose a couple of years ago in DSW, like or loath him, Paul Murphy is more effective an opposition politician than Seán Ccrowe in holding the Blueshirts, and their ‘socialist’/centrist supporters to account, he came second in a constituency once dominated by Fianna Fáil despite a strongly working class identity in Jobstown, Fortunestown and even Old Bawn.
The lesson being, don’t easily discount grounded political opposition too quickly, they might just come back and bite like a dog with rabies where Sinn Féin, and others, fail to inspire the electorate.
It’s not just the economy stupid, it’s waiting lists at the Adelaide & Meath, oversubscribed schools, dreadful oversight and provision of social care and widespread unemployment.
If the ‘traditional’ parties, now including Sinn Féin cannot step up to the mark, expect more Murphy’s, Carroll’s, Daly’s and Collins, even another McCann.
Donal McLavery’s nonsense appears to be never-ending.
A small party like People Before Profit could never expect to match the financial and human resources of the Green and Orange Tories. Neither could they depend on those historical tribalist loyalties in an election that Arlene deliberately posed as a Themuns versus Usuns sectarian head-count.
In the eventuality Sinn Fein were cock-a-hoop at losing one seat, and the DUP will be delighted at increasing their vote by 24,000 plus. And the Stormont Stalemate will continue to be a dysfunctional pantomime.
Donal makes the point about non-delivery by Gerry Carroll and Eamon McCann – lets leave aside the fact that ALL the non-Executive parties are incapable of delivering on any of their proposals and strategies because the two big parties carve-up the resources, the money and the speaking rights – so Eamon and Gerry have rightly used their limited opportunities to use Stormont as their platform for highlighting the sheer dysfunctionality of the whole circus.
Donal then lists, without any irony whatsoever, all the things that PbP could never deliver on. He mentions specifically the Irish Language Act. But Donal doesn’t mention that the ILA was agreed as part of the St. Andrews Agreement, the Shinners were signatories to that Agreement, yet here we are 11 years later and the ILA still hasn’t been explained beyond a propagandist slogan nevermind delivered.
Hows that for non-delivery, Donal?
I could also mention that the Bill of Rights agreed as part of the sweeties of the Good Friday Agreement appears to have evaporated in a Sinn Fein haze, as has the ”Parity of Esteem” we were promised, the reformed Police Force and Ombudsman Services, and the non-delivery on Legacy issues has been spectacular. Yet Donal claims that Sinn Fein ”stands up” to Unionism – well, its just 12 months since SF/DUP announced their Fresh Start Agreement which told us that everything would be rosy in the garden again. Yet Unionism still had no hesitation in currying our yoghurt, marching past Ardoyne, and locking up Tony Taylor, while a compliant, forelock-tugging Sinn Fein shuffled their feet in House-Slave acquiescence whilst handing over millions to active Loyalist paramilitaries.
Now, on the election itself Snarling Arlene’s arrogance, the scale of the corruption, and the endless sectarianizing at the hustings led to a polarisation along tribal lines that carried Sinn Fein to their largest mandate ever. But from conversations that I have had with Sinn Fein canvassers, that mandate was to a large extent Sinn Fein’s last chance to make Stormont a functional body. But that’s impossible. It doesn’t matter who the circus-masters are, the circus simply will not function because at its heart it entrenches Sectarianism in a dysfunctional sectarian statelet. But perversely, Sinn Fein, who claim to be a ”republican” party are its greatest fans. I wonder if that’s anything to do with how deep they have their snouts buried in the trough of corruption?
Perhaps Donal can tell us…..
In amongst all this tribalist cheerleading, its no surprise that the crisis in the NHS, and Social Care was drowned out once again – the fact that 97% of GPs have resignation letters that they are about to sign and submit to Michelle O’Neills department was barely mentioned, and I would imagine that not one of them has changed their mind as a result of this hardening of sectarian representation within Stormont. Its not Gerry Carroll that created Narnia as a ”beggar statelet”, its the Shinners. Its Michelle O’Neill that wants the Bengoa Report implemented, a brutal
combination of privatisation and cuts, a ”solution” that would give the Tories a wet dream. The Shinners implement it, whilst its Gerry Carroll and People Before Profit that stand against it.
So, sorry to piss on your little Green parade, Donal, but the Left aren’t going anywhere. In the words of Eamon McCann in reference to Stormont ”It really doesn’t matter what happens to me or this place, inside or outside, we will continue to preach the divine Gospel of Discontent”.
In his car crash interview on Nolan,Eamon McCann supported the Bengoa report.You “Wolfie Smiths ” would need to start singing from the same hymn sheet.!
Yet more nonsense. Yet more smears. Where is your Integrity now?
Listen to his car crash interview.He supported Bengoa.
Ive listedned to it….TWICE. At no stage did he support the Bengoa Report incorporating cuts and privatisation. Youre regurgitating second-hand Sinn Fein tripe…..