SINN Fein have come under attack from an anti-Brexit lobby group on the week of the election, with the group saying it would not endorse the party’s candidates as being pro-EU.
Early this week “The Forty-Eight Percent Plus” group, which campaigns against Brexit, endorsed three Fermanagh South Tyrone candidates as being pro-EU – the SDLP’s Richie McPhillips, Alliance’s Noreen Campbell, and the Green Party’s Tanya Jones.
Notable in their absence were the constituency’s three Sinn Fein (SF) candidates. When contacted by the Herald and asked why the candidates had been omitted, a spokesman for the group’s steering committee said they had excluded SF on the basis of the party’s previous poor record supporting Europe and its actions before the referendum.
“Why did SF not contribute a single volunteer to the official Remain campaign in NI despite trying to take up the available media bandwidth in Northern Ireland during the Referendum campaign?” asked the spokesman.
“Why did SF wait until the DUP publicly announced their Brexit campaign position before actually formulating their own view?”
The spokesman highlighted that in previous Irish votes on the EU, on both sides of the border, the party had campaigned against further European integration.
This included the referendums north and south on EU membership in 1973, and in subsequent votes such as the Maastricht Treaty, the Nice Treaty, and the Lisbon Treaty.
“What this shows is a startlingly polar opposite political agenda on Europe to the rhetoric spouted in our media by the likes of Michelle Gildernew,” said the spokesman. “We want to know why they play a different game on either side of the border.”
They explained that the group had researched SF and had decided not to engage with them “as it would be a waste of our limited funds and resources to work with a shape-shifting party.”
“We found plenty of evidence on social media and online fora that SF takes a very erratic line on the EU depending on the audience they wish to please,” said the spokesman. “We found SF elected representatives in places like Limerick and Louth have suggested a push for an Irexit and many have used the same tactics that UKIP use locally to undermine lead parties on EU integration.”
They added they also felt “SF used the referendum campaign for selfish interests, much like the DUP”, stating the party had used the referendum as “a membership drive.”
“SF preferred not to argue the merits of the EU project instead choosing to obsessively ‘wrong foot’ the party they govern within NI,” said the spokesman.
“The Brexit issue is greater than SF or any other party. A party that refuses to ‘muck in’ for the most pressing cause this millennia don’t deserve any support back. In summary, we cannot trust SF on the EU despite the fact that our members do actually admire Martina Anderson as a hard working MEP.”
The volunteer-led Forty-Eight Percent Plus group have in the region of 3,500 members in the UK, 405 of whom are in the North. They provide funds to run lobbying campaigns and their spokesman told the Herald they are now “intervening” in elections across the UK to seek a form of “Brexit justice.”
Anti-EU claims are mischievous, says Sinn Fein’s Dolan
Sinn Fein have refuted the claims made by pro-EU lobby group, stating that to claim the party were anything other than anti-Brexit was “mischievous.”
Responding to the comments by The Forty-Eight Percent Plus, FST SF candidate Jemma Dolan, who has worked for the party in Brussels, said: “Sinn Fein was one of the most active political parties in the north in campaigning against Brexit. Our activists were out on the ground across all constituencies.
“Our position on Brexit was very clear from the beginning and anyone who suggests otherwise is being mischievous.”
In response to the party’s previous record on Europe, Ms Dolan said: “While Sinn Fein has been critical of the direction of the EU in the past we were clear that it was in the best interests of the North, and all of Ireland, for the North to remain in the EU.
“We make no secret of the fact that we want to see some reforms at EU level to return certain powers to members states and to focus on a progressive social agenda that prioritise those issues where we most benefit from working together.”
She continued: “Since the Brexit vote Sinn Fein has been the key party standing up for the people of the North who voted remain.
We put forward proposals for Special Status for the North within the EU. Michelle O Neill has undertaken a diplomatic offensive on this issue engaging with leaders of EU states across Europe.
“Sinn Fein pursued this issue in the Dail and the Assembly and has supported grass roots community groups such as Border Communities Against Brexit who are campaigning on this issue.”
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