Sinn Féin has failed in this year’s local and European elections because it failed to run an “exciting campaign” compared to Fine Gael. 

That’s according to Communications Chair Terry Prone as Sinn Féin scraps 12% of first preference votes in local elections, compared to 23% for Fine Gael. 

Ms Prone told The Pat Kenny Show the opposition party “didn’t seem to have run a lively energetic or exciting campaign”. 

“In this instance, they don’t seem to have had the palpable energy that the Fine Gael campaign had,” she said. 

“People are crediting Simon Harris a lot with it – but you need to remember if someone like Simon Harris comes in, he brings a plethora of advisors.” 

Ms Prone said a reformed Fine Gael boosted support in the local elections – while Mary Lou McDonald lacked the necessary energy. 

“Not only did she not infuse excitement, if you watched when she arrived at the count centre, she was saying the sort of cliched old stuff you would have heard from decades of politicians,” she said. 

“She said she would listen - but listening was always your job so what happened?” 

Mary Lou McDonald at the RDS following a disappointing local election, 09/06/2024. Photograph: Sasko Lazarov / © RollingNews.ie

Newstalk Political Correspondent Seán Defoe also said Sinn Féin “way overestimated” the number of candidates to put forward. 

He noted, however, that the increased number of candidates was due to the failure to run enough candidates in the 2020 general election, where it was the most popular party but didn’t have enough seats to form a Government. 

“It's interesting – some of their candidates had very little presence,” he said. 

Sinn Féin also performed poorly in the 2019 local elections, which could have affected this year’s campaign. 

“Coming in without a local base, they weren’t able to get that local recognition that is vital in these particular elections where people don’t vote along party lines,” he said. 

Sinn Féin 'flanked on all sides'

He also pointed out Sinn Féin was “flanked on all sides” by both the Government parties and parties further to the right. 

“The far right said Sinn Féin is part of the establishment,” he said. “That they will do pretty much whatever the Government was doing.” 

It was a successful day for the Social Democrats, who have so far increased their seats from 19 in 2019 to 32 – including being the second-largest party in Dublin City Council. 

The Green Party also didn’t suffer the wipeout that was expected, while Fianna Fáil is neck and neck with Fine Gael for the largest party. 

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