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SINN FÉIN WILL rejoin The Left, also known as GUE-NGL, grouping in the European Parliament, after some ambiguity over their membership during their election campaign.
Incumbent Sinn Féin MEP Chris MacManus told The Journal in April that his party would not be considering a move from The Left but, during the election campaign, the party’s candidates did not disclose which group they would join when asked.
Groupings in the European Parliament allow for MEPs to easily come to consensus, find common group and help to determine the type and level of representation of political ideologies in the EU.
The size of the groups in the Parliament also set out the number of seats that will be allocated to them at committee level – where the majority of the legislative work and key-positions, such as lead negotiators (or rapporteurs are they’re known in Brussels) are up for grabs.
The tactic for parties withholding their decision is not uncommon, as often the candidate might not want to commit to a group that will leave them with very little legislative power after the results of the entire election are announced.
In The Journal‘s pre-election candidate database, MEP-elect Lynn Boylan said: “If I am lucky enough to be elected in June, depending on the make up of the next Parliament and what groups are successfully formed, I will be joining the group that is best aligned with my values.”
But today, a day after Boylan was elected to the Dublin constituency, The Left group posted a picture to X, formerly Twitter, welcoming her and Sinn Féin to the group ahead of the next term in the EU.
Welcome @LNBDublin to The Left group ✊ pic.twitter.com/BLttZr2WDB
— The Left in the European Parliament (@Left_EU) June 12, 2024
The Left in the European Parliament have managed to maintain their seats in Brussels after the expected shift to the right did not come to pass as once thought.
Though right-leaning groups have increased and The Left expected to lose just one seat, their mandate could shrink as there are 15 additional seats in this terms’ Parliament.
—
This work is co-funded by Journal Media and a grant programme from the European Parliament. Any opinions or conclusions expressed in this work are the author’s own. The European Parliament has no involvement in nor responsibility for the editorial content published by the project. For more information, see here.
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They can join whoever they want to it makes little difference to the people of Ireland.
For a party whose soul aim was to cut Ireland off from the outside world for 50 years now, for a party whose members are responsible for killing of children and innocent women, for a party who is still essentially has a central committee that dictates policy and for a party that has been found out by it’s own electorate…..they can put whatever mask they wish it won’t hide what they are
I’m assuming that they are aligning with the new European left wing brigade lead my Macron….People’s front left of France, or something like that….
Total of 2 MEPs if , will really sway the right to back off.
@Paul O’Mahoney: well said
@Paul O’Mahoney: Did you have to say ‘for a party…’ so much after the commas or was it for dramatic effect!?
@Paul O’Mahoney: I think you’ll find that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael closed Ireland off from the outside world through isolationism, do you not get embarrassed not knowing your history?
@Paul O’Mahoney: Also Macron’s party isn’t part of ‘The Left’ – they’re part of Renew. If you consider the pro-war and pro-colonialist Macron a leftist you would have to a raging fascist…and probably consider FG fiscally centrist.
@Brian D’Arcy: He literally described the history of FF and ‘The Yank’s’ disastrous economic policies which failed and isolated Ireland for decades along with his unholy alliance with the Catholic Church, which led to the systematic abuse of 100s of thousands of children, women and men. These guys love giving people history lessons.. but only the ones they want to spew, ad nauseam. And while scoffing at SFs 2 seats (possibly 3) does he think FF with their 3 seats will sway anything other than a fart in the European Parliament.. ?
@Paul O’Mahoney: brilliantly put
@Brian: The problem with the early days of the state was our “brave patriots” of 1916 and the War of Independence had no plan B. With no plans or money for health or education it was handed over to the church. A smooth transition to Independence would have been better. Similarly in the North the 30 year terror campaign was unnecessary and even during that period there were opportunities from peace but the PIRA kept the terror campaign going.
@Vincent Alexander: 1916? Today’s constitution was created in 1937, heavily influenced by Bishop McQuaid. In fact, McQuaid was involved in the actual formulation of the articles dealing with personal rights, the family, education, private property, religion, and directive principles of social policy (Articles 40–45). On the day that the constitution came into force, McQuaid wrote to The Yank : ‘This morning again I said Mass for you at dawn, on the eventful day. I am reminded all day of the text in the New Testament: ‘Many have desired to see what we see and have not seen’. Them boys were on some trip ! And the fact that The Yank persisted with the ludicrous and disastrous commitment to an inward-looking policy of self-sufficiency will explain why there was no money in the coffers.. FF butchered this country after the foundation of the state. This is not to say that FG was much better..
@Paul O’Mahoney: You know FG sent a brigade to aid Franco. Hitler’s men. How many died in the gas chamber because of them? Blueshirts.
@Brian: Dev was a relic of 1916 and the civil war. The IRA at the time was inward looking.. Nationalism was rampant during that period. Irish in the constitution as the 1st language and probably less people spoke it then than now. It was only in the fifties that Ireland started out looking. In the early sixties sectarian boundaries between the youths in the North were breaking down but no credit to Paisley, Adams and McGuinness they set it back decades. The media at the time was Adam says, Paisley says or McGuinness says. There were numerous opportunities for peace not availed of.
@Vincent Wallace: How many have been killed by the PIRA? More recently why did SF delete all references to Putin and Russia of its website.
@Paul O’Mahoney: Do you see a comparison of ten young men dying on hunger strike, and Thomás Ashe and Terence MacSweeney in the earlier phase for independence?
Finally your delusional tirade about Sinn Féin and I.R.A. who are and were two seperate entities process throughout the struggle for Independence. Though of a close thought process.
@Vincent Alexander: Oh, were you at the epicenter?
Flip floppers be flip flopping lol
@Paul O’Mahoney: they were always going to sit with the same group they always sit with, the pro-soviet rump of the USSR politicians from the former Russian colonies in Eastern Europe. Suggesting to the electorate that they might move somewhere else was just electioneering, an attempt to counter what FG and Labour were pointing out, that those parties are the only ones with any rea influence in the Parliament, because of the two major groups to which they are aligned.
Sinn Fein and independents can’t achieve much in the EP, they are essentially glorified lobbyists at best, spectators to the process at worst. Like sending Dustin the turkey to the eurovision — a great joke but pointless.
@Paul O’Mahoney: Hamas lovers nonetheless.
@Vincent Alexander: No where near 6 million thats for sure
@Paul O’Mahoney: look at the history and track record ffg and then get down off your high horse. SF have not made a complete mess of this country,they have not been in power.
The pro mass immigration party it is then.
While all of your anti-immigrant parties COMBINED only got 0.9% of First Preference votes in the locals, Patriot. That’s 2 seats out of 949, a mandate of 0.2% of seats!!! Your extreme-right parties have zero support, while “mass immigration” FFG got 50%!!!!
I think you’ll find that was the media speaking on Sinn Féin’s behalf, the very ones who would allow them on the radio or television, The media can’t gwt over them being allowed their own voice,Lynn Boylan put manners on RTÉ in the European debate.
@Brian D’Arcy: The media ban ended in 1994, and it was put in place by the government, not the media.
Why should the state have broadcast propaganda for people who wished to subvert the state?
@Brendan O’Brien: A government party that forces Irish media outlets to boycott an opposition party did what it intended to do – to silence the Republican movement on airwaves that the broadcaster had a monopoly on.
@Brendan O’Brien: Oh “the state”? You got that correct.
The Nation must be another matter for you?
SF are not of the left. They are a pro market party. Culturally they are traditionalist: gaa, speak irish, mythologising irish ‘ martyrs’. They slather on about change, yet there is absolutely nothing different or new about them.
@Alan: Well, their plans to address the housing crisis puts them pretty much to the left of FFG(LG).
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: hot air. SF have one interest only. Their appeal, it seems to me, derives more from their presentation and their attitude rather than their policies. That’s why they are losing out to even more beligerent voices than their own. And now that they are on that path, the only thing they can do is shout louder and simplify more. Aligning with the left will do nothing for them. Wouldn’t like to be the person trying to reset things for them.
@Alan: Who exactly are these belligerent voices they are losing out to? It would seem to me that they lost out to all parties, as support shifted back largely to the traditional FF/FG and a large number of independents. I’m not sure of the exact numbers of anti immigration candidates that ran,whom you may consider belligerent,but they hardly put the dent in the fall in support,which by the way, was always based on polls and not the ballot box. Based on the ballot box they’re still up last local elections and as the last locals showed they can be a huge disparity between local and general elections..and considering they may very well have equal number of MEPs as FF/FG.. I certainly think its to early to celebrate the demise of SF, as some are.. Both FF/FG have had far worse days than this.
@Alan: Ok so you are admitting that you are a voice in the wind? So why comment in the first place?
@Alan: Nostradamus you are some visionary. How can you know otherwise? Sinn Féin has not been given a chance to prove themselves as yet? They surely cannot be any worse to our present government.
If Sinn Féin doesn’t deliver vote them back out? Simple it’s called democracy.
And Ireland shivers.
Ah the modern left. Once upon a time a socialist believed in the workers controlling the means of production. Somehow over the decades it has been watered down to mean Capitalism with high taxes and a bit of welfare.
The Left got 23% of the vote in Ireland. FG’s group got 21%. FF’s group got 20%. https://x.com/EuropeElects/status/1800817298506207433
And the far-right ID group got a total of 2% of the vote in Ireland.
@9QRixo8H: Depends upon who is regarded as ‘Left’, but SF, Labour, The Greens, SD, PBP add up to 25% in the locals.
And I am excluding Aontu, because I regard them as a right-wing authoritarian group masquerading as left-wing.
That’s not counting left-leaning independents, on which I don’t have any data. But there was a significant independent vote.
Left leaning party candidates got 31% in the South EU constituency, not including left-leaning independents.
They didn’t do so well in the Midlands-NW constituency, gaining only 16.3%, again not including any independents.
In Dublin, they got 46.1%, not including independents.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: Labour and SocDems are in the S+D bloc which got 6%, while SF and possibly PBP are in ‘The Left’ bloc which got 23%. Greens bloc got 5%.
@9QRixo8H: Don’t all those class themselves as ‘Left’?
And that Independents for Change pair – Daly and Wallace – class themselves as left too, I think.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: yes but the data is about the party named The Left (also called GUE/NGL) where that party got 23%. While Labour/Greens/I4C/SD might class themselves as left, they are not in the European party called The Left.
@9QRixo8H: But all these are still left parties, right?
I mean, a party can call itself anything, but that does not (necessarily) give any indication of its political leanings.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: yeah those 3 eu blocs are on the left
ideologies can be both, being right or left is an action, if you go far enough the ideas become exactly the same. There’ no way you can create an accurate ‘league table’… I’d be up for a Fantasy League of Irish politics tho.
@9QRixo8H: Good word. Open your eyes man?
@Martin O,Reilly: Peaders obsessed with far and hard right. He swallows the sound bites and anybody that questions immigration is ….in his opinion….hard right. Even if all they have hard left opinions. Glad most political commentators by here have a much broader view of political leanings.
Haha listen to all the northerners in here
@Wayne Shoes: It’s called democratic rights. Do you understand??
Electorate to SF: we have just rejected your far left stance.
SF to electorate: we are going further left!
It will be the end of Beautiful Ireland if them fruit cakes lefties keep ruining the country
The sooner SF get in to government the better!
It’s time they changed their name To The U Turn Party
Get a hoddy for god sake
have your say