British and Irish Governments must act

It is often the case that the news media latch onto a word or a phrase, and it becomes repeated across TV, radio, online, and in print. It is frequently an attempt to describe complex social and political events with a term that implies that journalists and the organisations they belong to can impart the core understanding of a specific moment in time.

‘Low-key’ was the term floating across the news media in the run up to the 18 May local elections, and this phrase was repeated across many news reports. The reality was very different. The result reaffirmed Sinn Féin as the largest party in the Six Counties. And at the count centres and in the news rooms, the media began to grasp the scale of another stunning Sinn Féin electoral performance.

A slow growing groundswell of change is happening across Ireland; it is part of a wider trend of how Irish political and social life is being reshaped. Do the news media understand the scale of this?

As Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald said in Belfast at the election counts, “All of this happens at a time of great change right across the island. Sinn Féin is very proud to be part of that change”, and that, “We will value that mandate given to us by the people, and we remain committed to working with others to deliver for all”.

This was echoed by Sinn Féin Vice President Michelle O’Neill. Speaking live on the BBC she said, “We fought a positive campaign from start to finish. We said to them that we would work for everyone in society.”

This edition of An Phoblacht captures the actual spirit of the election campaign with reports from MLAs Caoimhe Archibald and Jemma Dolan, along with Dublin City Councillor Daithí Doolan on what it was like on the ground across the North.

It also reports from the four People’s Assemblies that have been held so far as part of Sinn Féin’s Commission on the Future of Ireland and signals the others that will be held in 2023 as the Irish Government still refuses to move on establishing a Citizen’s Assembly on a United Ireland.

Michelle O’Neill also stressed the need for “the British and Irish Governments to get together and focus their efforts on the immediate restoration of the Executive and Assembly”. And there is nothing low-key about the effort needed here to deliver the political institutions and progress that voters in the North clearly want.

Once again, the voters have spoken. The British and Irish Governments must act.