His description of the Sinn Féin public meeting in Cork on Monday night as a “campaign of intimidation and bullying” was so hapless as to be funny. It is not simply that Sinn Féin did much better than they expected. The lesson of the Good Friday Agreement is that when Sinn Féin are accepted, they accept the institutions to which they have gained access. In scale, failure to bring Sinn Féin into government now will outstrip in stupidity Eamon Gilmore’s decision to bring Labour into government in 2011. But one of the “big” parties is not possible alone, not without Sinn Féin, so the Social democrats have effectively decided to opt-out.

Source: Irish Examiner February 25, 2020 21:00 UTC