What is there left to say that hasn’t been said? Let’s see.
As soon as the results were in, according to Sir Jeff during the election campaign, Sinn Féin would be up on their hind legs yelping at the moon about the need for a border poll. When Mary Lou McDonald referred to the work needed to create a new Ireland, Mark Carruthers was at it like a greyhound out of the traps: she had brought up the border poll idea without even being asked about it. Clearly it matters a lot to various people that the Shinners are cast in the role of shameless border-busters, without a clue or care for ‘ordinary people’ and their lives.
Which is as flimsy a piece of flim-flam as you’ll find. Sinn Féin got their surge in the south by emphasising the housing crisis, the economic pressure on the most vulnerable, the shambles of a health service. They deliberately put a muffler on the UI drum and what happened? They got about twice as many votes as they’d anticipated, and were kicking themselves for not having fielded more candidates to win more seats. Here during this election campaign, they’ve likewise done considerable UI muffling, which has paid off handsomely. As Conor Murphy has said, as Mary Lou has said, as Michelle O’Neill has said – in fact as virtually every SF politician has said – the fact that SF are in favour of a united Ireland isn’t exactly something they’ve disguised. When people voted for them, they knew that UI was a central aspiration of the party. But as Conor Murphy said last night, they also knew that SF could walk and chew gum at the same time: that they could have a commitment to a united Ireland and be prepared to do their utmost to help people cope in the here and now.
As the seats stacked up, pace the good knight Sir Jeff, Sinn Féin didn’t start shouting about a border poll. In fact they seemed pretty restrained in their victories, although that could have been a failure of the TV cameras to catch what was going on. I thought the essential image of their highly successful campaign was the one where Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O’Neill entered smiling into the polling station – not sure which one. There was a light of some kind around them – no, I’m not suggesting an aura, Virginia – that, added to their smiles, told viewers that this was it. Tá ár lá tagtha – our day has come. There’s a way for them to go yet but it’s clear that when the state which was founded to maintain a permanent unionist majority suddenly finds that the largest party is a republican party committed to delivering a reunited Ireland, you know that a hugely significant staging post has been reached.
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