Election blow for 'out of touch' Sinn Fein shows up its border poll folly

The failure of Sinn Fein to even come close to winning any seats in the Republic’s two by-elections shows that the party’s republicanism is “out of touch” with voters.

That is the view of UUP peer Sir Reg Empey, who was reacting to Sinn Fein’s two seats in voting last Friday: Dublin Central (the constituency of party leader Mary Lou McDonald) and Galway West (in the heart of the gaeltacht).

placeholder image — Fine Gael candidate Sean Kyne celebrates with Peter Burke (left) and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris (right) after winning the Galway West by-election at the count at Galway Lawn Tennis Club, Galway. The by-election was called when the seat was vacated by Catherine Connolly when she became president. Picture date: Sunday May 24, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Whilst by-elections are local affairs, they are commonly seen as a barometer of a the wider government’s popularity.

With Sinn Fein being by far the main opposition party in the Republic, Ms McDonald had been hoping to succeed at the expense of the Fine Gael-Fianna Fail government.

In the event, Sinn Fein came a somewhat distant second in Dublin Central and were absolutely trounced in Galway West, including by a right-wing anti-immigration candidate from the new Independent Ireland party who very nearly won there.

Lord Empey warned against “reading too much” into just two by-elections, in which local issues could have been a factor, but “objectively, it was a dismal performance” for Sinn Fein.

By contrast, the result for Independent Ireland was “quite astonishing,” said Lord Empey, adding: "Of course, they have focussed in on the immigration issue which is becoming a bigger and bigger problem in the Republic.”

He said Sinn Fein are “looking actually more out-of-touch” with the “feelings on the ground”.

He said: "I think people are seeing them as unclear on a number of serious social and economic issues that affect people in the Republic, and just don’t seem to see Sinn Fein as a party that can resolve the problems for them.

"Certainly their rhetoric about border polls and all just doesn’t add up.

"The general public in the Republic, just as here, are focussed on the big challenges we all face: cost of living, education, and health, and people are getting bored of this continuous ranting about border polls.

"A border poll isn’t going to put any more food on somebody’s table.

"It’s not going to resolve economic issues, energy costs, the things that are hitting people’s budgets hard at the moment – just like the ideological fetish they have over Irish langauge signs, and of course they’re turning people against them because of that.

"All this sort of Sinn Fein rhetoric just doesn’t mean anything to anybody anymore.

"They’ve just lost focus, and the ideologues within them I think are not getting through to the electorate.”

He added “if you can’t produce a result in the gaeltacht… that’s sending out a very significant signal”.

In Dublin Central, Janice Boylan had begun the count slightly behind centre-leftist Social Democrat contender Daniel Ennis by 4,348 first-preference votes to 4,903.

By the time all the vote transfers were in though, that gap had widened to 7,787 votes for Sinn Fein's Boylan and 12,050 votes for Social Democrat Ennis.

But if Dublin Central was a disappointment, Galway West was a disaster.

Sinn Fein’s Mark Lohan won 3,208 first-preference votes, putting him in seventh place.

By comparison, right-wing Independent Ireland candidate Noel Thomas took the initial lead with 10,007 first-preference votes, and throughout much of the counting remained at the top of the poll.

By the time all the transfers were counted, Sinn Fein’s Lohan had 3,763 votes while Independent Ireland’s Thomas ended up behind the winner: Sean Kyne of Fine Gael, who won 19,218 votes (over five times as many as the Sinn Fein contender).

In Dublin Central, the remaining three seats are held by Labour, Sinn Fein, and the Social Democrats.

Some 14 candidates were standing for the open fourth seat, including six independents (among them alleged gang boss Gerry Hutch, who got 2,817 first-preference votes).

The other four seats in Galway West are held by Fianna Fail, Fianna Fail, Sinn Fein and right-wing independent Noel Grealish.

No fewer than 17 candidates were standing for the seat, eight of them independent.

According to the Galway Advertiser, Sinn Fein members in West Galways “refused to support” Mark Lohan on the basis that, among other things, he is not fluent in the Irish language.

It quoted a former Sinn Fein electoral candidate as saying “it's shameful for Sinn Fein in particular - a republican party - not to have someone with Irish”.