The victory of the Irish radical Left and its possible repercussions

By Klaus Dräger

A very interesting anlysis of the Irish situation you may find here

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/02/ireland-election-results-sinn-fein

Personally, I am not so optimistic about Sinn Féin pushing through a left turn in Irish politics. Because only months ago their leader Mary Lou McDonald declared to be open for a coalition government with either of the conservative parties, see here:

https://www.counterfire.org/articles/opinion/20365-sinn-fein-tumbling-into-the-centre

So let’s see what will happen.

I fully support Sinn Féins stance to get Northern Ireland joining the Republic (even if their arguments for this perspective are now very much disguised in ‘pro-European speak’ – which is notable, as the party strongly campaigned against the Maastricht, Nice and Lisbon EU Treaties).

At a time (1972) when it was much more dangerous to promote Irish Unity (because there was fully fledged armed conflict), Paul McCartney  published his song ‘Give Ireland back to the Irish’; and made quite courageous statements condemning historic British imperialism (which not so many people seem to remember). For many Beatles fans, Lennon is their hero because of sharp political comments, but at the time Paul was not only the gentle composer of love songs as he is honored and remembered nowadays. So enjoy this historic abc interview if interested:

Also read

Irish voters reject the Right: a new opportunity for the Left?