Anthony McIntyre wonders about the turmoil plaguing Derry Sinn Fein.

It is not very often that internal disputes within Sinn Fein are played out in public. The party prefers to reveal as little as possible about internal machinations and even less about ructions. For whatever reason it has not kept the lid on its Derry problem. Some suspect that it made no real effort to bottle the thing up, but opted instead to wash its dirty linen in public and tear strips off some of its better known figures in a bid to gain back lost ground with the electorate by publicly humiliating those who voters blamed for the failure to significantly improve the quality of their lives.

Since the massive defeat of Elisha McCallion in the 2019 Westminster election, followed by her fall from grace over a financial scandal, it has been evident that all was not well the other side of the Glenshane Pass. Derry republicans not associated with Sinn Fein have been complaining for years that the party in the city was a nest of cronyism and nepotism: jobs for the boys, jobs for the girls, jobs for their relatives, but few jobs for anyone else in an urban setting scourged by economic and social deprivation compounded by Tory welfare cuts which Sinn Fein gets blamed for facilitating. 

The complaints about nepotism and cronyism have been echoed elsewhere across the North without any serious turbulence occurring.  The probability is that the internal Sinn Fein status quo may have remained undisturbed in Derry were it not for the electoral plummet. The former blanketman Dixie Elliot some time ago identified the soft underbelly of Sinn Fein in the city, predicting that it would take a serious hit: voters were unafraid to enter the booth and decline to tick the Sinn Fein box because they knew that in doing so the seat would not be lost to unionism. 

When it came, the event, "dear boy", that tugged the rug away was the funeral of Sinn Fein member Peggy McCourt, who family and friends felt had been snubbed in death. Once the genie was out of the bottle there was no getting it back in. 

A Sinn Fein source told the Irish Times:

There was a sense that people have really fallen out with us in Derry ... we’re hated by the community we would seek to lead.

Strong stuff which nevertheless failed to identify the drift away from republicanism in the city, where the discourse seemed an inversion of what had previously articulated a republican ethos. Sinn Fein members certainly do not do irony, some former blanketmen among them objecting to Bobby Sands’ comm about his funeral preferences being published on the anniversary of his death. Is there ever a time not to publish what Bobby Sands wrote? Running parallel to this was the Sinn Fein family, black sheep included - a flock of them in the city by now – becoming immersed in a public squabble over jobbery.

Given the amount of things that people describing themselves as republican could be complaining about, the Derry Sinn Fein family opted to become embroiled in a dispute about people being moved out of their well remunerated posts, the former IRA prisoner Martina Anderson being the most high profile casualty. It was all dressed up in the language of her jettisoning being a "far cry from the ethos of republicanism.” Yet as Suzanne Breen pointed out: 

With no disrespect to Anderson, much has occurred over the years which has been a “far cry from the ethos of republicanism”, and her demotion doesn’t rank high on the list.

Some republicans opposed to Sinn Fein have sought to defend Martina Anderson in claiming she has been shafted by the party. The implication was that because of her past IRA life - which was very arduous and involved a lot of sustained deprivation - she should somehow be immune from the axe when it falls. Not only is this thinking immune from her having been part of the SF revolution that is devouring its children, it seems to suggest that allowance should be made for the queen syndrome and a sense of entitlement.

What black marks Martina Anderson might have chalked up I have no idea. Anderson herself did not make the point that she had been publicly humiliated; that was left to her supporters. It does however afford her a measure of plausible deniability if the men in grey suits knock on her door to "chide" her for any badmouthing from her quarter. The Do you know who I am? Gang no longer arrives in masks. Hers is unlikely to be a visit like that made to the young Meath activist Christine O’Mahoney, where the unwelcome visitor was told where to go. 

While I don't care one way or the other about Anderson's political career, or wish her any harm, it is impossible to disagree with the former republican prisoner Alex McCrory’s assessment:

Martina is not a victim. She knew every step of the process. She was rewarded for her support of the leadership and reaped the benefits. I simply cannot feel sorry for her.  

Too few careers and too many careerists. 

 ⏩Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.

Something Rotten In The State Of Derry

Anthony McIntyre wonders about the turmoil plaguing Derry Sinn Fein.

It is not very often that internal disputes within Sinn Fein are played out in public. The party prefers to reveal as little as possible about internal machinations and even less about ructions. For whatever reason it has not kept the lid on its Derry problem. Some suspect that it made no real effort to bottle the thing up, but opted instead to wash its dirty linen in public and tear strips off some of its better known figures in a bid to gain back lost ground with the electorate by publicly humiliating those who voters blamed for the failure to significantly improve the quality of their lives.

Since the massive defeat of Elisha McCallion in the 2019 Westminster election, followed by her fall from grace over a financial scandal, it has been evident that all was not well the other side of the Glenshane Pass. Derry republicans not associated with Sinn Fein have been complaining for years that the party in the city was a nest of cronyism and nepotism: jobs for the boys, jobs for the girls, jobs for their relatives, but few jobs for anyone else in an urban setting scourged by economic and social deprivation compounded by Tory welfare cuts which Sinn Fein gets blamed for facilitating. 

The complaints about nepotism and cronyism have been echoed elsewhere across the North without any serious turbulence occurring.  The probability is that the internal Sinn Fein status quo may have remained undisturbed in Derry were it not for the electoral plummet. The former blanketman Dixie Elliot some time ago identified the soft underbelly of Sinn Fein in the city, predicting that it would take a serious hit: voters were unafraid to enter the booth and decline to tick the Sinn Fein box because they knew that in doing so the seat would not be lost to unionism. 

When it came, the event, "dear boy", that tugged the rug away was the funeral of Sinn Fein member Peggy McCourt, who family and friends felt had been snubbed in death. Once the genie was out of the bottle there was no getting it back in. 

A Sinn Fein source told the Irish Times:

There was a sense that people have really fallen out with us in Derry ... we’re hated by the community we would seek to lead.

Strong stuff which nevertheless failed to identify the drift away from republicanism in the city, where the discourse seemed an inversion of what had previously articulated a republican ethos. Sinn Fein members certainly do not do irony, some former blanketmen among them objecting to Bobby Sands’ comm about his funeral preferences being published on the anniversary of his death. Is there ever a time not to publish what Bobby Sands wrote? Running parallel to this was the Sinn Fein family, black sheep included - a flock of them in the city by now – becoming immersed in a public squabble over jobbery.

Given the amount of things that people describing themselves as republican could be complaining about, the Derry Sinn Fein family opted to become embroiled in a dispute about people being moved out of their well remunerated posts, the former IRA prisoner Martina Anderson being the most high profile casualty. It was all dressed up in the language of her jettisoning being a "far cry from the ethos of republicanism.” Yet as Suzanne Breen pointed out: 

With no disrespect to Anderson, much has occurred over the years which has been a “far cry from the ethos of republicanism”, and her demotion doesn’t rank high on the list.

Some republicans opposed to Sinn Fein have sought to defend Martina Anderson in claiming she has been shafted by the party. The implication was that because of her past IRA life - which was very arduous and involved a lot of sustained deprivation - she should somehow be immune from the axe when it falls. Not only is this thinking immune from her having been part of the SF revolution that is devouring its children, it seems to suggest that allowance should be made for the queen syndrome and a sense of entitlement.

What black marks Martina Anderson might have chalked up I have no idea. Anderson herself did not make the point that she had been publicly humiliated; that was left to her supporters. It does however afford her a measure of plausible deniability if the men in grey suits knock on her door to "chide" her for any badmouthing from her quarter. The Do you know who I am? Gang no longer arrives in masks. Hers is unlikely to be a visit like that made to the young Meath activist Christine O’Mahoney, where the unwelcome visitor was told where to go. 

While I don't care one way or the other about Anderson's political career, or wish her any harm, it is impossible to disagree with the former republican prisoner Alex McCrory’s assessment:

Martina is not a victim. She knew every step of the process. She was rewarded for her support of the leadership and reaped the benefits. I simply cannot feel sorry for her.  

Too few careers and too many careerists. 

 ⏩Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.

6 comments:

  1. When you tell someone that they are the bee,s knees and Irelands answer to Che Guevara,tell them it often enough ,then they will believe it, egotism and its companion cronyism has run rampant not just through Derry but I,d say all of Norvern Iorn,s quisling $inn £anny and to a large degree in the south,the spooks turned the long war on its head to their advantage and used their time wisely by destroying republicanism from within,their victory was not just short term it was lethal,using drip feed Chinese whispers and other undermining tactics their Donaldsons ,(yes more than one)undermined serious and dedicated republicans,so when the mi5 inspired leadership pulled the plug on the armed struggle,having already screwed the military wing ,those that were left would meekly follow without protest the pied pipers dance into the gilded halls of Stormont and British control the payoff being power and influence,to be greeted by their detractors those leaders of the Catholic church and castle catholics who saw the opportunity of social advancement with the new dispensation and absence from war ,John Larkin etc with a well filled trough to feed from the encouragement from new found friends Molam etc the lure of the filthy lucre must have been to much for those mere mortals ,so in a way it,s understandable when we witnessed the likes of Anderson and most of her cronies let that power and influence go to their heads and forgot that it was treachery that got them to where they were and it was treachery that was behind their downfall.already a wealthy person Anderson and hubby unlike all other unemployed will be far from hungers door and never will be short of a few bob to make up for her loss of her biological clock ,my biggest regret is that they can walk away ,unlike so many real republicans who gave everything,

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  2. There is no victim here, its not like Anderson wouldn't/hasn't shafted anyone else... she knew the rules of the organisation to which she was a prominent leader in.

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  3. This starts out quite promising but soon descends into adolescent gibberish.

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  4. Great article.
    Nepotism is still alive and well in SF especially in Derry.
    They will replace Martina Anderson with Fiachra McGuinness as I see that being floated around already.
    They will now ride the coattails of the McGuinness name the same way they try to claim they are still the republican movement of Sands, Hughes and the many volunteers who laid down their lives or those who suffered for years in jails throughout the world.
    It is something that they are very far removed from. Especially now that it has come to light that they silenced a man they are often too eager to quote in light of the denial of Bobby Sands last wishes.
    Yes, the jobs for the boys and the nepotism does play a part it is not the major factor, but it is a big contributing factor. They will not get votes in Derry because they have more faces than the guildhall clock.
    Always pointing the fingers at others who hold power all the while not voting against cuts is their main policy. A lie of omission is still a lie, just because you abstain from voting does not mean you did not vote against. People see that, they are not blind.
    Just because they repeat a lie over and over does not make it true. People see that, they are not blind.
    They claim to hold the unreformable police to account yet raids in republican areas continue. Stop and searches are continuing at a higher rate. Yet the same force they hold responsible, the district commander does not see fit to even show up as requested at a meeting of the local council. People see that, they are not blind.
    They ask people to give information to a police service that lets joy riders and drug dealers get lenient bail agreements and use them as informants, yet republicans are constantly denied bail or have draconian bail measures imposed. People see that, they are not blind.
    They claim to be the biggest party in Ireland but have separate agendas for the 6 and 26 counties. How can you claim to be the biggest party in all of Ireland fighting tooth and nail for Irish independence and yet have separate agendas for a partitioned country? People see that, they are not blind.
    Going into the Dail would not mean going into Stormont or phasing out the armed struggle.
    Putting manners into an unreformable police force.
    No decommissioning.
    Going into Stormont is a tactic to destroy it from within.
    A united Ireland by 2016, border polls, the list could go on and on. People see that, they are not blind.
    The reason they are losing votes in Derry is the Derry people have said enough. You could probably dig up Wolfe Tone himself and run him for SF in Derry and he would not get the votes.
    They have been in power in Derry and elsewhere for a long time now and the blunt fact of the matter is there is still high unemployment, more cuts, and less services. Derry especially needs a detox center and they have delivered nothing except a walking bridge. We already had two bridges we did not need a third.
    They have no policies, and their only agendas are power, money and finger pointing.
    They are now about as republican as FF or FG.
    You cannot replace a Brendan Hughes with a Michelle O’ Neill or a Ruairí Ó Brádaigh with a Mary Lou McDonald and say you are the same republican party. The people of Derry see that, they are not blind, and they told them what exactly they thought of them at the pools.

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  5. Great article Anthony and some great comments here as well.

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  6. Thanks to all for the comments.

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