--- election_year: 2019 party_id: sinn-fein party_name: Sinn Féin party_leader: Mary Lou McDonald political_spectrum: left victory: false government_outcome: opposition sections: - economy - foreign-policy - democracy-and-constitution --- # Sinn Féin Manifesto 2019 ## Time for Unity Equality Rights and Prosperity for All --- ## Time for Unity --- ## Foreword In 2017 seven Sinn Féin MPs were elected to stand up for the interests of the Irish people and against the catastrophe of Brexit foisted on us by a toxic DUP/Tory alliance. Our MPs honoured their commitment to the electorate and stood firm against this agenda. They stood firm in the best interests of citizens across the island. They helped deliver the unique status for the north of Ireland in the Withdrawal Agreement – preventing a hardening of the border, stopping a unionist veto and protecting the Good Friday Agreement. Sinn Féin MPs, working with the all-Ireland Sinn Féin team in Dublin, London, in Washington and in Brussels, used their strength and influence where it counts and we delivered. Our MPs showed what can be done by delivering on their commitment to the electorate. English Tories created the Brexit mess. Westminster’s response to this is chaos and dysfunction. The excesses of Brexit have been tempered in Dublin and in Brussels - not in the circus of Westminster politics. Now we have an opportunity to send a strong message to the Tory government that we reject their Brexit. The ultimate answer to Brexit is the Unity poll set out in the Good Friday Agreement which can give us automatic re-entry into the European Union. Let’s seize that opportunity, seize the moment and return the strongest team of Sinn Féin MPs in this election. --- ## Contents * Message from Sinn Féin President — 6 * Use your vote to bring about change — 6 * Brexit — 7 * Using influence where it matters — 8 * Looking to the future — 10 * Making politics work — 13 * Using our influence — 15 --- ## Use your vote to bring about change This election is about your future. In 2016 a cross-community majority of people in the north voted to remain within the EU; voted to protect your best interests, people’s jobs and livelihoods, and your rights and entitlements currently enjoyed as Irish and EU citizens. Since then the Tories and the DUP have ignored your views. The dominant voice in the Tory party has been of right-wing English nationalism. They have disregarded the voices of citizens in Scotland and the north of Ireland to remain. But the game is far from over. Your vote for remain candidates in this election is again about sending a message about which union you want to belong to; Ireland in Europe or Britain. For three years the Tory/DUP desire for a Brexit at any cost has led us to the verge of crashing out of the EU without a deal and a reintroduction of a hard border on our island. This threat has not disappeared. But there is a solution that allows us to ensure that we do not have a hard border, with all the political and financial consequences that would flow from that. A solution that frees us up to shape our own political destiny, free from the diktats of right-wing English nationalism. That solution is contained within the Good Friday Agreement – the creation of a new, agreed and united Ireland – an inclusive society. Spurious arguments that this is not the time for such a democratic exercise miss the fact that the discussion about our future is live and growing. Some on this island who are content with the status quo don’t want to face the prospect of change; particularly when it must herald a realignment of politics on the island of Ireland. But the voices and desires of ordinary citizens will not be suppressed. --- ## Brexit: There is no good Brexit. The Tory government and the Westminster parliament created Brexit. The British government and the Westminster parliament are committed to Brexit. There is no British or Westminster solution to Brexit. The Irish solution to Brexit will only be found in Dublin and in Europe. That is where Sinn Féin has focussed our efforts to protect Ireland, the Irish economy and the best interests of all citizens from the disaster of Brexit and the chaos of Westminster. Team Sinn Féin have delivered: * Special status for the north; * No hardening of the British border in Ireland; * Protection for the Good Friday Agreement; * No unionist veto; * Automatic re-entry to Europe through Irish unity. --- ## Using influence where it matters Sinn Féin has been anti-Brexit from the start. We campaigned across the North for Remain. After the referendum we identified Europe, Dublin, and Washington as the key points of engagement in countering the Brexit process. Initially the focus in Europe was on Scotland. The then Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, when he first went to Brussels talked about Scotland and didn’t mention the North of Ireland. In that context we launched a political offensive highlighting the case for Special Status for North. We took legal advice and presented legal positions that proved Special Status was not only possible but imperative to protect Irish interests. Defending the GFA would be key in challenging the DUP/Tory Brexit strategy. We established direct links with many key players. We published and distributed thousands of pamphlets around Europe and Ireland - highlighting the key points of concern, and how they could be addressed. In Brussels our voice was being heard and our analysis sought by many. In Dublin we led and won the debate for Special Status. Over time all the political parties in the Dáil moved on to our position. The Irish Government’s approach to Brexit has been significantly influenced by our ideas and sustained by political and community pressure. Our approach was always to be constructive. We have worked closely with Border Communities Against Brexit (BCAB). Their public profile and publicity provided them the space to influence. Sinn Féin successfully nominated BCAB for a civic award in Brussels. This amplified the popular anti-Brexit voice both at home in Ireland and in Brussels. In Westminster we regularly met with every political party to explain the need to protect the GFA in any Brexit deal. We engaged with the British Government directly. We continue to do so. But we recognised that participation in the Westminster political system was never going to deliver the results/influence we wanted. The numbers game there is rigged. Scotland and the north of Ireland are small fry in the Westminster numbers game. The SNP/DUP experience illustrate that perfectly. For instance, despite 59 Scottish MPs taking their seats in Westminster their voice is ignored. The British government have twice struck deals with the EU27 which ignored Scottish interests. The outcome of the DUP’s dalliance with the Tories needs no rehearsal here. The electorate’s voice needs not just to be heard but heeded. We have worked where your voice counts. So, we have worked at the other side of the negotiating table to ensure those in Dublin, Brussels and Washington who would be negotiating on Ireland’s behalf understood the power of the GFA and could bring that weight to bear on the process. Our approach to Westminster is not only right in principle – but clearly in these times it is practically and strategically correct also. We have helped shape and influence the debate in the places where power ultimately lies. Sinn Féin drove the demand for special arrangements and the protection of the GFA. In an ever increasingly globalised world - our constituents are savvy enough to understand that political representation is about having a voice strong enough to be heard in the corridors of power throughout the world - from Capitol Hill in America, Downing Street in London, the Dáil in Dublin and Brussels - Sinn Féin is the only political party that can offer that active, robust representation where it matters. Sinn Féin MPs will continue to use their influence to promote Irish Unity as Ireland’s solution to an English Brexit. --- ## Looking to the future The debate on Irish unity has moved centre stage. Brexit has been a dynamic which has fuelled the public debate around Irish unity leading many, from a range of backgrounds including unionists, to consider where their future interests lie. While Irish unity is not inevitable – we have to work to make it happen - the reality is that the debate has taken on a new dimension. A referendum on Irish unity is coming. It’s no longer a question of ‘if’, but ‘when’. In a recent opinion poll in the north carried out on behalf of the Tory peer, Lord Ashcroft a majority of those polled said that if there was a referendum on Irish unity tomorrow, they would vote in favour of unity. 49% stay in UK 51% for unification For Northern Ireland to leave the UK and join the Republic of Ireland For Northern Ireland to stay in the UK Ashcroft poll In the south there has been resistance from the political establishment to start planning for Irish reunification. It is the responsibility of all governments to plan for the future. The Irish Government has a responsibility to lead the discussion on Irish unity. It must urgently convene a truly representative, all-Ireland forum to discuss and plan for Irish unity. It is clear that the electorate are well ahead of the politicians. An Exit Poll conducted on behalf of RTE/TG4 shows us that 77% of voters would support a united Ireland, even if the vote was held tomorrow. 23% against unification 77% for unification RTE/TG4 Exit Poll The Good Friday Agreement provides the avenue for Irish unity based on the right of self-determination and the principle of consent. The power to trigger a referendum rests with the British Secretary of State and Sinn Féin MPs will continue to call on them to set out, in clear and unambiguous terms, the circumstances in which they will call the referendum. It is clear that support for Irish unity is growing. A recent BMG survey in Britain for The Independent newspaper found that, excluding the don’t knows, 73% were in favour of allowing the north to decide whether to remain in the UK or ‘join the Republic’. 27% against unification 73% allow north to decide to join the Republic BMG survey Sinn Féin will continue to push the Irish government to lead the conversation on Irish unity. An Oireachtas committee on unity must be formed and a Green Paper on unity published. Irish unity is the democratic alternative to Brexit which the people of the North have not consented to. --- ## Making politics work All elections and referendums on this island are inextricably linked in respect of their impacts; local government, An Dáil, Westminster, the Assembly, Europe, the GFA and Brexit. Sinn Féin remains fully invested in and committed to the Good Friday Agreement. The commitment to a referendum on a united Ireland is within this Agreement. It cannot be cherry-picked. This includes the restoration of an Assembly that works for everyone. The current political impasse is unacceptable. Three years after the RHI scandal brought the assembly down people deserve functioning government and genuine power-sharing. They demand integrity in government. An agreement was reached in February ’18, however the DUP regrettably walked off the pitch. That is not a sustainable position. The delivery of rights cannot be avoided, National Rights, Citizenship Rights and National Identity. At the start of the year, after years of campaigning, same sex couples will be able to marry the one they love. The injustice of women being criminalised has ended. There is now a consultation underway which Sinn Féin will help shape to provide access to compassionate health care for all women. After years of waiting the Historical Institutional Abuse victims can see some light in their journey for compensation. We should be legislating for these things in the Assembly that we are elected to. Sinn Féin stand ready to form a credible Executive. A new Assembly and a new kind of politics is what we are working towards. To be credible, then it must adequately deliver on issues like welfare mitigations, public sector pay, safe staffing levels for health care workers, strong economic policies that lift all parts of the economy, action to tackle the climate emergency and investment in rural communities. To be credible all of the outstanding issues must be dealt with, including an Irish Language Act and reform of the use of the Petition of Concern. It must also include dealing with the legacy of the past. Failure to deal properly with the legacy issues is hindering reconciliation and is impacting negatively on our peace process. Victims and survivors have had to wait for far too long for truth and justice. The Stormont House Agreement must be implemented by the British Government immediately. Those who call for special treatment for British soldiers who murdered Irish citizens are out of order. There can be no amnesties for British State forces now or ever. Everyone should be equal before the law. Successive British governments have failed to legislate to give full effect to the Good Friday Agreement provision which recognises the birth right of people here to be British, Irish or both. Sinn Féin support fully Emma DeSouza in her campaign and our Westminster and Leinster House teams will continue to campaign for urgent change. The Irish Government must fulfil its duty and defend these rights on behalf of Irish citizens on this island. --- ## Using our influence “They’ve (Sinn Féin) been playing a strong political role which they haven’t done historically, that I hadn’t foreseen.” - David Davis MP “Sinn Féin’s voice has been heard loud and clear in the European Parliament Brexit steering group, when it comes to issues of Northern Ireland and the border.” - John Campbell BBC Economics and Business Editor “The Good Friday Agreement expressly provides for an agreed mechanism whereby a united Ireland may be brought … and in accordance with international law, the entire territory of such a united Ireland would thus be part of the European Union.” - European Council --- ## Candidates John Finucane Paul Maskey Oliver McMullan Dermot Nicholl Michelle Gildernew Elisha McCallion Francie Molloy Mickey Brady Cara McShane Declan Kearney Chris Hazzard Órfhlaith Begley John O’Dowd Gary McCleave Ryan Carlin