Sinn Féin under fire for keeping their promises

AFTER WEEKS of being lectured by Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Labour that Sinn Féin is not fit for Government, these parties are now every day telling Sinn Féin that it is their duty to go into Government – with them. Yes, Sinn Féin is under attack from the Establishment for sticking to its election promise of not empowering a Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil administration.

Sinn Féin may be the third largest party, and Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael may both have already ruled out any possibility of entering coalition government with Gerry Adams's party, but that hasn't stopped the media and political opportunists using the impasse to attack Sinn Féin while ignoring the elephant in the room – there is no ideological difference preventing a Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael government.

At Fianna Fáil's Ard Fheis in Dublin in January, the party's Justice spokesperson, Niall Collins, claimed Sinn Féin is “not fit for government”. This was a line repeated by now acting Taoiseach Enda Kenny of Fine Gael in February.

On Thursday's RTÉ News, one of the survivors of the voters' revenge on Labour, Education & Skills Minister Jan O'Sullivan, was complaining that Sinn Féin was being 'irresponsible' by not propping up a right-wing party and that it should go into government “in the national interest”.

This sudden enthusiasm within Labour for Sinn Féin to follow in their footsteps wholly contradicts their position during the election campaign when the party said: “Sinn Féin are not fit for office and Labour will not serve in Government with them.”

In one sense, it's good to see Labour has finally overcome its blatant partitionism which previously believed Sinn Féin was good enough to be in Government on one part of the island but not the other.

On the plinth at Leinster House on Thursday as Sinn Féin's newly-strengthened team of 23 TDs arrived for the first day of the new Dáil, the party was once again set upon – this time by reporters from the Independent News & Media group.

Despite running a never-ending vitriolic smear campaign against the party and publishing editorials such as “10 reasons not to cast a vote for Sinn Féin”, Indo reporters are now apparently most concerned that the party won't empower their close friends in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

Bizarrely, it was left to veteran broadcaster and openly Fine Gael fan George Hook to inject some sense into the media frenzy by pointing out that Sinn Féin sticking to its commitments is “perfectly reasonable”.

For the last five years the media has rightly condemned Fine Gael and Labour for not sticking to their election promises. Why then, today, does it vilify Sinn Féin for keeping its word?