Brian Feeney: Fear and loathing of Sinn Féin driving Micheál Martin’s abandonment of north

Changed times. There was a Fianna Fáil ard fheis at the weekend. It didn’t feature in the north’s media, electronic or print.

Time was the leader’s speech would have been covered in detail, clips of it televised, implications analysed – but now, nothing.

True, Iran’s deluge of drones, missiles and rockets on Israel was bound to grab the headlines but that’s not the reason.

First of all Micheál Martin had nothing to say about the north – surely remarkable for a Fianna Fáil leader? After all, he wittered on about Ukraine, Iran, Palestine and Israel, sounding at times like the famous 1898 editorial in the Skibbereen Eagle, “keeping its eye on the Emperor of Russia”.

Martin is, among other things, Minister of Foreign Affairs so he couldn’t ignore events in the Middle East. Nevertheless, his responsibilities include the north – but not a cheep, not even welcoming the institutions up and running again.

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern meets current Fianna Fáil leader and Tánaiste Micheal Martin as he arrives at the party’s ard fheis

That’s been Martin’s direction of travel for some years. It’s a far cry from Brian Cowen in July 2010 opening a Fianna Fáil office in Crossmaglen at a dinner for 150 local FF members, TDs from neighbouring border constituencies and two ministers. The party already had cumainn in QUB and Magee.

Three forums had been established in counties Armagh, Down and Fermanagh after Bertie Ahern in 2007 declared FF was an all-Ireland party and registered in the north. There was even talk of contesting assembly elections.

Fast forward to 2018 and when front bench spokesman Éamon Ó Cuív TD and the party’s leader in the Senate, Mark Daly, travelled to Omagh for a selection convention to nominate a FF candidate for upcoming council elections – a candidate who was a member of Fianna Fáil’s national executive – Micheál Martin sacked them both from their spokespersons roles.

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood and his Fianna Fáil counterpart Micheál Martin at the launch of the two parties’ short-lived partnership in 2019

Martin turned his attention to the SDLP, but after desultory ‘talks’ and then the announcement of an ‘unprecedented and historic partnership’ in 2019, nothing happened. In the end, amid growing internal SDLP dissent about the Fianna Fáil link and no benefits accruing, Colum Eastwood walked away in 2022.

It was clear the SDLP didn’t fit in with Micheál Martin’s slow but inexorable abandonment of Fianna Fáil’s traditional republican stance on the north and northern nationalism. That abandonment was confirmed by Martin’s addressing the Alliance Party conference on March 1. There he was introduced by the Alliance candidate who is challenging Claire Hanna in the upcoming British general election.

Martin also endorsed the Alliance Party’s proposals for reform of the assembly’s functions. One former Fianna Fáil advisor, Derek Mooney, criticised Martin for ‘either naivete or imprudence’, accusing him of ‘two-timing’ the SDLP. Nope, he’d already dropped his former partner along with all pretensions to support northern nationalism.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin speaks at the Alliance Party conference dinner

The major driving force behind Martin’s apostasy on republicanism is his visceral loathing and fear of Sinn Féin which has gobbled chunks out of his support in the south. He seldom makes a speech without having a dig at Sinn Féin, even in the lead up to his ard fheis when he repeated that he couldn’t go into coalition with SF given their current policies.

You can see his difficulties about organising in the north. Stand as Fianna Fáil and get stuffed by SF. Stand SDLP candidates as proxies and watch Sinn Féin stuffing them. Then, after those defeats, listen to Sinn Féin in the Dáil laughing at him and asking who is the leader of Irish republicanism as Sinn Féin sits in polls in the south at twice as much as Martin’s Fiann Fáil languishing on 16%. Embarrassing or what?

You can be grateful that it was Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney leading the charge against Brexit. Fine Gael has nothing to fear from Sinn Féin so can stand up for northern nationalists

Put simply, the logic of his own hostile stance towards Sinn Féin in the south, driven by fear that the party will steal his political clothes (as they have done already among substantial portions of the electorate), is that Martin can’t come to terms with the fact that for 20 years it has been the dominant and growing representative of northern nationalism.

(left to right) Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, then Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar and Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald during a TV election debate

In the 2022 assembly elections Sinn Féin polled 70% of the nationalist vote: 250,000 to 78,000 for the SDLP. In the 2023 council elections Sinn Féin got 31% of the vote to the SDLP’s 8.8%. So what’s Martin supposed to do, help Sinn Féin in the north represent their case to the British as Irish governments did in the past? As far as Martin’s concerned that would be giving Sinn Féin a boost while digging his own party’s political grave.

You can be grateful that it was Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney leading the charge against Brexit. Fine Gael has nothing to fear from Sinn Féin so can stand up for northern nationalists.