Clarke retains seat with boost from SF running mate
Adrian Cusack and Rodney Farry
Sinn Féin retained its Dáil presence in Longford Westmeath at the weekend, with a huge vote transfer from her running mate propelling Sorca Clarke into the second of the five seats.
Clarke, who topped the poll on the back of a big Sinn Féin surge in 2020, saw her first preferences fall by more than 40% compared with the previous general election.
She received 11,848 'firsts' on that occasion, compared with 6,998 this time. This vote put her in fifth place on the first count.
When her Sinn Féin running mate Barry Campion was eliminated late on Sunday night, however, Clarke took a whopping 2,353 (or 70%) of his 2,987 votes in order to secure re-election a little after midnight.
Speaking to the Westmeath Independent, she said this campaign had been very different to the last one as "people's minds were very much focused on a general election for a longer period of time" in 2020, as compared with 2024.
This time, she felt, most people only started to tune in to the election "within 10 days, or seven days, of the actual voting day."
Reflecting on her campaign, Clarke said the cost of living crisis was the big issue on doorsteps across the constituency.
"I have been campaigning for well over two decades on various different issues. I have never seen the amount of people opening the doors in the evening in their coats," she remarked.
"It goes across all sectors, the cost of living crisis. There's a very small minority of people that would consider themselves unaffected."
She was also critical of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael for saying they would not speak to Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald about forming a new Government.
"I think there is a level of arrogance to it and I don’t think it lands well with people out there," she said.
"I would never, ever say to somebody, 'we will not speak to you'. It’s not reflective of the type of politics that is going to attract new people into politics, and we want to attract new people into politics.
"It's also not reflective of the type of politics that people can relate to, and people want to be part of.
"If you look at our turnout figures in this constituency this year, they are very poor, 53-54% (in some areas). I think we as politicians, and we as political parties, need to take a long hard look at ourselves and ask why it is that people are not coming out to vote.
"There is an absolute disconnect, and we need to work with people, particularly people in communities that don’t see themselves reflected in the politicians that are there."