The Road to Republicanism

How does one go from voting for the eventual housing minister, Eoghan Murphy, in the 2016 General election, to quitting their postgraduate studies to canvass with Mary Lou McDonald and working with Sinn Féin in 2020? Believe it or not the road isn’t that long and for that exact reason I will focus the attention of this post on why many vote for the former ‘big two’ and why many more decided, like me, to vote for Ireland’s actual largest party. 

I would be a very unlikely Republican. Like many people who vote for Fine Gael, my polling preference was inherited, quite blindly in my case, from my parents, who themselves inherited it from theirs. It is easy to continue to support a system if you yourself are not drastically affected by it, and when you do feel the effects to blame policies and decisions made by a previous Fianna Fáil government. The same can be said for traditional Fianna Fáil voting families who blame their counterpart. Unfortunately, this system of alternating governments between two parties is what allows the practice of deflection of blame to occur and leaves very little room for self-criticism and growth. We see this in the US and UK, with their governmental duopolies failing the majority and distracting most voters from a real space to address their own party’s failings. Thankfully the people have decided to break that cycle in Ireland and a real alternative is in sight. 

From a family perspective, why did I decide to break the cycle? I grew up very disengaged when it came to politics and activism. My first real engagement with politics, other than exercising my vote, came after the 2016 general election, while I was doing my undergraduate degree. My 3rd year class representative refused to engage in a march calling for better supports for third level education. This was an important issue to me and many of my classmates and so I asked to take over the position from him. He gladly accepted, and many from my class took part. From there I learned the value of engaging with representatives within the college system. This remains my stance today, if you have a problem, contact your representatives on a local or national level.

As I was not engaging in party politics my opinions and activism could freely develop throughout college. The failings of the government were constantly highlighted and the more I engaged with issues such as the housing, homelessness and health crises as well as the impending environmental emergency to name but a few, the lack of urgency by the government in addressing these issues consistently stood out. This gave us all reasons to march. Student activism opened me up to engagement with movements, particularly the Repeal referendum, and how ordinary people who share a common goal can achieve it.

The karma of voting for the Housing Minister from a government that has neglected third level education compounded for me when I went to search for accommodation when starting a PhD in clinical medicine in 2018. A less than minimum wage stipend to use in a city with one of the most expensive rental markets, completely lacking any form of affordable accommodation, left me all but essentially homeless and needing to move in with friends of friends. The move from unengaged and being funded in part by my parents to being self-funded and living on a pull-out couch for a year did wonders for my political radicalisation. This was when I started to read the opposing policies from parties here, clear alternatives were there to the two parties who, aided by others, sold a generation’s future down the river for the gain of very few. 

In the local elections I decided to vote left and transfer left, for the individuals who ran on progressive policies. The next step in my education came when I saw these very same progressives interact with other parties on councils, some folding to the big two, and some not engaging with other left parties. On one particular housing development, at council level, which saw parties come together to vote against the interests of social housing being built on public owned land, Sinn Féin’s opposing stance to private builds brought them into close consideration for my support.

I spent more time thinking of politics than I did anything else, so I made the decision to leave my PhD and give my time to Sinn Féin. I did face questions from family like ‘would you not consider joining one of the larger parties?’ But I was very sure that based on recent, sound policy produced by Sinn Féin that they were a true viable alternative, that they had the potential to transform the country for the better. Having had a very recent successful election in the North, the first time that nationalists made up the majority of MPs returned, and with the assembly reopening, the stage was set to add to this by gaining seats in the South.

I had been in contact with a few people within the party and one invited me to attend an induction event for new members, so I gladly took him up on the offer. I was expecting a packed room but was somewhat surprised when I was one of three new members (they run these regularly in Dublin Central so it’s actually not that surprising). I was given the history and the objectives of the party, and in this meeting, Mary Lou popped her head in to introduce herself and added that a general election would be called very soon. It was called the very next day and I was given the opportunity to intern in her Cabra constituency for what would be a very busy three weeks. 

Over the course of the election I worked alongside Oireachtas staff, councillors from North and South, MLAs, Seanadóirí, TDs, and of course Cabra Republicans. It was a fantastic opportunity to meet people on the doors and hear the issues that affected them and the problems that concerned them the most. The recurring issues were obviously housing and health, annoyance over Mary Lou’s exclusion from the leaders’ debate, and the clear failure of previous governments. Our message was simple: if people wanted change then they needed to vote for it, and that’s what people did. For the first time the cycle of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael being the leading two parties was broken. For the first time the chance for real change is here. The thoughts of the two parties having to go into an official coalition (we have had it unofficially for the last government) is a form of electoral success and their desperation to keep Sinn Féin out is flattering despite it being devastating to be forced out from delivering change.  This journey is still going, and we will continue to fight for change. 

Now that I am here, involved in a local cumann, and with the party, how can I make more of an impact than I did when disengaged and tweeting into an echo chamber? Don’t get me wrong, Twitter is a brilliant tool for keeping up to date with news, events such as protests, and the occasional slip ups from members of other party youth wings. But it does not always translate into results, otherwise Sinn Féin would have received 80% of the vote, unfortunately that wasn’t so. 

As a member, if I am particularly passionate about a topic, I now have structures available to me, within the party, that allow me to voice it and there is the potential to bring about change. This pertains to party policy. If there is something I do not agree with, observing the correct procedures, I can bring that to be discussed at the Ard Fheis, with the potential for change to be made. Self-criticism is essential for the party to move forward. This really applies to issues of great importance, as a member I can greater effect change of Sinn Féin from within the party than from outside. If like-minded people were in a minority and decided to leave, then it only increases the majority voice. I plan to have these discussions, to be informed and to inform. Together we are stronger. 

It is on me also to immerse myself into Republican history, including music, liberating my YouTube playlists slightly, which now have songs from the Irish Brigade in between songs by Elton John. At home I will continue to work on my parents, who gave a higher preference than usual for their Sinn Féin representative, and who now strongly consider seeking out input from our relevant party spokespeople because they know they will hold the caretaker government to account. 

This ends as an open invitation to those who are not involved with Sinn Féin in any official capacity, but are considering joining. I cannot recommend it enough. I started off as one of three new members, however, the most recent induction event had more than twenty. If you have any questions, get in contact with me, anyone on this blog or your local or national representatives. We will be more than happy to help.  

Joseph O’Callaghan

Irish Republican