Galway Sinn Féin headed North for the Stormont election. As an all-Ireland party this weekend solidarity is the norm.
Galway linked with Tyrone, responsible for the Clogher valley which runs east to west through south Tyrone with the towns of Ballygawley, Augher, Clogher and Fivemiletown along its 30-mile length.
It was to be a challenge to hold the three seats we had won in 2017 in this Fermanagh South Tyrone constituency. Tyrone activists devised a precise geographical strategy to give us the best chance of success.
Our first preference candidate in the valley was Colm Gildernew, part of a formidable republican family with Michelle, Colm’s sister elected the Westminster MP in 2001. It is also the constituency that elected Bobby Sands as MP in 1981.
We had a unique role canvassing “soft opposition”. We knocked the doors of unionist voters identified as willing to talk. I am always struck at how collegiate our conversations are. They are glad to be canvassed, like to chat and many have visited Galway. It makes for good interactions.
Unionists and nationalist voters live in the same towns, estates, and roads. There are some instances where one community dominates an estate or section of a town. There are no “no-go” areas.
There is also a growing awareness from unionists that Irish unity is not only possible but probable. I think the years of engagement, the assurances that their identity would not be suppressed, and the reality of Brexit has moved them to being open to the idea. The first time I had a unionist tell me they were voting Sinn Féin was in the 2019 Westminster election.
The issues unionists raised were cost of living, NHS delays and get on with working together. The protocol was not a negative issue.
Protocol butters the parsnips
The protocol and the economic security it brings to the six counties, giving it access to two trading blocs puts money into the pockets of all citizens in that jurisdiction. The protocol butters the parsnips. We heard this from shop keepers and café owners. The ordinary unionists I met felt let down by the DUP, who have been on the wrong side of the economic argument.
One unionist voter who told me he was voting Alliance number one and Sinn Féin number two said that he didn’t have any problem with Michell O’Neill as first minster. He wanted all politicians to work together. An older unionist lady praised the Sinn Féin MP for the work she had done on securing funding locally while announcing her first preference for Colm.
In a compact public housing estate while chatting at a tricolour-flagged door, the unionist neighbour engaged in good natured slagging. His daughter lives in Dublin and he brought out his Irish rugby flag as a show of common ground. He wasn’t giving us his vote but he said he had no issue with a Sinn Féin first minister.
One older nationalist woman living in a predominantly unionist estate said quietly she hoped that the “east Tyrone woman” would be first minister. She was emotional saying she never thought she would see it happen. She was moved that we had come all the way from Galway to help with the campaign.
At another unionist house they told us they were delighted to see us canvass and had been hoping someone from the nationalist side would come by. They added there was no chance of them giving us a vote but we were offered tea and they joked that we had come a long way from “another” country and they should get some canvassers over from the “mainland”. We all agreed that it would be hard to get an English tory to care about helping anyone in Tyrone.
The majority of unionists homes said they did not want to be seen as opposing a nationalist first minister because of her being Irish and republican. They do not want to be viewed as bigots.
Getting out the vote
On election day we worked to get out the vote. We were out in force including our TD, Mairéad Farrell. There was at least one Galway car in each of the towns. I was assigned to Augher and had two young residents with me for the 185 houses on our list.
Augher, like all the towns in the valley has an Orange hall and a cluster of churches along with imperial war memorials with poppy wreaths piled neatly. I read the cards at one and they were mostly from Orange lodges and former members of the RUC and UDR. They are left undisturbed, and most had been there since November. The local with me said that they are just part of the background of the town.
He had told me earlier that he has Protestant friends and that most of the younger generation interact well together. They all socialise in Belfast and Dublin and work and college takes them all around the country. They were planning a trip to Cork together for a concert in the summer. Two of his Protestant friends were voting Sinn Féin.
We kept up our door knocking until 9pm. We had delivered all our votes.
The count started at 8am and as the unofficial tallies came in we soon realised we had delivered our seats. Colm, Aine and Jemma would be elected.
Our vote was up. This tally pattern was being repeated across all constituencies and a relief and calm satisfaction was the dominant feeling across the Sinn Féin tables. There was no triumphalism.
In the vast count centre I saw that same atmosphere of co-existing I had experienced on the canvasses. Unionist and nationalist intermingled in the coffee que, sharing photocopy paper and numbers as tallies were being assessed.
UUPs Doug Beattie was pacing constantly as his personal votes dropped, he was to prevail in the end.
UUPs Ryan McCready chatted with nationalists and smiled when he was told Ard Mór by way of good luck. I saw DUP MP Gregory Campbell good humouredly hold his tally sheets to his chest away from the inquiring eyes of a republican activist, I later found out he had early numbers that a DUP seat would be lost in North Antrim.
There were ex political prisoners there who had been in the H-Blocks with Bobby Sands. They had seen the north when it was teaming with the might of the British war machine. One man said to me that this day meant “equality” for him but he added “we have to work to hold that equality”.
SDLPs Colum Eastwood was subdued and doing early media interviews at damage control. His party had support and canvassing help from FiannaFail, Fine Gael and Labour. It didn’t help.
The conservative TUV were initially buoyant but quickly deflated. Jim Allister was not for chatting with anyone from anywhere. Aonthu were equally dejected and forlorn looking. Alliance activists were beaming, they took the middleclass middle ground.
The Sinn Fein tables of laptop tally counters were made up of the legion of young activists and staff. Observing that youth, energy and mature confidence was empowering in and of itself. It bodes well for the future of the party.
Over all there was an air of calm confidence as the tally numbers verified the polls. The unionists were not languishing in defeat but in what I would call quiet stoicism. I think they had a realisation that sands were shifting, a nationalist first minister was on the way. They had a new reality to strategize about, figuring out how to deal with it.
On the drive back to Galway I listened to Radio Ulster coverage.
The numbers were in and Sinn Fein had won the election. Now the largest party in Stormont with over 250,000 first preference votes, 70,000 more votes than the runner up the DUP, and over twice as many as the third place Alliance. History had been made.
Michelle announced that she would be showing up for work in Stormont on Monday morning. The DUP said they would not and spoke the language of delay.
I saw a new dawn in politics while I was in the Clogher valley. I saw a society who want good government with politics working for all. I saw respect, I saw calm mature responsibility. I saw that in young and old alike. I also saw a thirst and an energy for progressive movement in society and I saw a small number of reactionary hold outs. It was not their day and it is most certainly not their future. The DUP can delay be they will ultimately have to listen to their own voters who want to see politics work.
The northern state was established in 1921 so that someone like Michelle O’Neill could never hold the office she was elected to hold on May 5th 2022.
She has shattered a glass ceiling. She has shattered it not just for republicans but for all who believe in democracy and justice.
Fredrick Douglass’ words ring true again “power concedes nothing without a demand, it never did and it never will”. Michelle O’Neill won the election; Sinn Fein won the election. However it is not a destination in and of itself. This victory is a point on the timeline to full self determination.
From what I saw of all citizens in that part of our country they will not allow themselves to be short-changed or boxed in. Michelle O’Neill is first minister designate. Democracy will prevail. Sometimes hope and history do rhyme.
