Murphy calls on Sinn Féin to stop “scapegoating” migrants

Paul Murphy has formally extended the offer of a left-wing alliance for the next general election – with conditions.

The People Before Profit TD went into more detail about the proposed left-wing alliance at the Dáil today after writing about it in the Irish Times towards the end of last week.

Murphy confirmed he has written to Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald as well as “other party leaders on the left” about the left-wing alliance, saying that there are lessons to be learned from a similar alliance in France.

France’s left-wing alliance surprisingly won the 2nd round of parliamentary elections in France on Sunday, defeating the far-right National Rally and the centrist En Marche! party of President Emmanuel Macron.

The French alliance consisted of parties spanning from the traditional centre-left, green parties, far-left parties, and socialist parties.

The New Popular Front won 180 of the 577 available seats, well short of the 289 majority, but marked the best electoral performance for the French left since 2012.

Murphy said that a similar alliance could work in Ireland, saying “we should come together to learn from what happened in France.”

A similar alliance was floated by Murphy before the local elections between his party, Sinn Féin and the Social Democrats, which Sinn Féin dismissed and the Social Democrats never publically made statements about.

Based on transfers and the make-up of Dublin’s various local councils, transfers among the parties considered to be on the Irish left were solid with People Before Profit and Social Democrats both benefitting each other in various council races.

Following June’s local elections, Sinn Féin, People Before Profit, Social Democrats and left-wing independents have shown a willingness to work together on various councils, most notably Dublin City Council.

Now, Murphy wants a formal alliance set in stone for the upcoming general election.

Murphy echoed a common complaint against Sinn Féin that was reflected at the ballot box – Sinn Féin’s stance on immigration was out of sync with their voter base.

Party leader Mary Lou McDonald stated in April that “the party is not for open borders,” widely regarded as a campaign trial howler.

The Dublin South-West TD told reporters outside the Dáil that Sinn Féin “made a very very big mistake, both morally and politically” before the local and European elections, saying that their strategy surrounding social issues “backfired.”

“It was an absolute disaster because they ended up playing the election on the pitch and the Government wanted to play it on.”

“When the Government centred the issue of asylum seekers and said ‘we’re going to crack down on Ukrainians, we’re going to reduce the amount of money they get’, unfortunately, instead of saying, ‘wait a minute, going after poor women and children and driving more and more people into poverty is not going to make a single extra home for an Irish person, single extra hospital bed’, Sinn Féin said ‘yes, we agree and we’d go even further.”

He commented that Sinn Féin “scapegoated” migrants, and said a red line for taking part in the the proposed alliance was not to repeat their public stances on immigration in the lead-up to June’s elections.

Other conditions of the proposed alliance include a commitment not to enter government with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael under any circumstances, a transfer pact between the parties was to be arranged, and the parties involved must agree on a “radical” programme for government.

While Sinn Féin and the Social Democrats are on Murphy’s wishlist, comments from the TD strongly imply that Labour and the Greens would not be part of the agreement.

“There is a cynicism about politics, and a big part comes from people voting for the Greens or Labour, and their votes have ended up putting Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael back in power.”