On Longford canvass Sinn Féin MEP Chris MacManus highlights regional imbalance

The last time the country put numbers beside names on a ballot paper Sinn Féin shook up the traditional two party dominance that was a feature of Irish politics since the 1930s.

The party jumped from 22 Teachtaí Dála to 37, but more impressively they garnered a sizable popular vote. In the early years of the current government the party's opinion poll standing continued to rise.

This was a marked contrast to the local and European elections held less than a year before. That ballot saw the party's representation tanked. They lost a third of their local authority seats, and two of the three MEP seats.

The only seat the party held was in this, the Midlands North West, constituency. Matt Carthy flew the flag for Sinn Féin in Strasbourg and Brussels, after Lynn Boylan and Liadh Ní Riada failed to get re-elected.

Fast forward nine months to the historic election win for the party. One of the new TDs was the aforementioned Mr Carthy. Sinn Féin looked to Sligo councillor, Chris MacManus, to fill in the Cavan-Monaghan TD's stead.

Mr MacManus is a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Ireland for the Midlands–North-West constituency since the party nominated him to take up the post in March 2020.

He comes from a family entrenched in the party. His father, Seán MacManus, was the national chairperson of Sinn Féin from 1984 to 1990, and the first Sinn Féin Mayor in the Republic of Ireland since the beginning of The Troubles in 1969.

Seán MacManus was also involved in the negotiations leading to the Good Friday Agreement.

For his part Chris MacManus had extensive experience as a local authority representative, but this will be his first time on the hustings in a constituency that stretches from Dublin to the Atlantic seaboard, and from Donegal to Laois.

He shares the campaign trail with party colleague Michelle Gildernew MP, who looks to do the opposite of Matt Carthy by swapping national politics for European politics.

On his canvass in Longford the Sligo MEP called into the Longford Leader office. His is an easy going, personable manner, possibly informed by a long stint as a politician.

“Being an MEP was never a plan for me, I was a councillor for just over 20 years in Sligo,” he told, “I first got elected in 1999. My background has been very, very rooted in my community and being connected.”

Following the 2020 general election Sinn Féin co-opted Mr MacManus to the Strasbourg slot: “I was asked by the party to replace Matt when he got elected to TD and go out to Brussels. I've tried to bring the work rate and work ethic I built as a councillor with me out to Brussels. That means stay rooted in your community,” he said.

The challenge of shifting from representing a county with a population of 19,199 to a constituency with a population of 1,831,741 is not insignificant. The Euro hopeful says many issues translate: “I've gone from Sligo County to a constituency that's 13 counties in size.

“One of the big things that I've recognised as a councillor, as somebody from outside the Greater Dublin area, is the sense of regional imbalance. The further you are away from Dublin, you don't get a fair crack of the whip.

“We pay the same taxes, yet we don't get the same services. There's a regional imbalance, and that's a priority for me. That means addressing infrastructural needs that are very much wanting,” he says.

The Sinn Féin representative flags many of the issues on the local political agenda: the slow progress of the N4 upgrade, public transport, preservation of the family farm. He ties them all together with the over focus of development on the east coast of the island.

“There is a general sense that services the people in large urban areas take for granted, like public transport, or the ability to have postal services and Garda stations relatively close to communities, are being neglected.

“When it comes to rural Ireland, to counties like Longford, we have to address that regional imbalance. To try to call a halt to rural decline. That's my main priority since I've been out in Brussels,” Mr MacManus says.

In his four years in the Parliament he has come to measure his expectations: “You've got to remember you're one of only 13 Irish MEPs, amongst 700 different MEPs in a massively multilayered institution with a Commission and a Parliament and a European Council. But you try and do your best.

“I think all of us, as Irish MEPs, probably punch above our weight. And that's a very good and important thing to do,” he says.
Many of the 13 counties in the constituency are considered rural. It clearly informs what the Sinn Féin MEP marks as priorities: “Farmers are being asked to do more for less. I think there's an obvious frustration there. There's more stick and less carrot, of the overall funding for CAP being reduced. We'll be going into a new round of negotiations in 2025 for the new CAP in 2028. In Europe they don't really understand the Irish family farm. They don't get it.

“We try to explain that we can't lose the family farm in rural Ireland, for whatever reason, overburdened, extra bureaucracy, or inconsistent income. If we lose family farms we're pulling at a thread of the fabric of our rural communities.”

For the sitting MEP the issue of Irish unity is one that is on the agenda: “I think more and more people are opening up to the conversation on Irish unity. It's a debate gathering a lot of momentum out in Europe.

“Another issue I've involved myself in is the right to use cash. The European Parliament is looking at it, and I was one of six MEPs tasked with preparing legislation. We'll probably not get it over the line before the Parliament closes its doors. I would like the opportunity to carry on fighting that corner. I think it's a fundamental right for people to be able to use cash,” he said.

His canvass in Longford is part of a rigorous tour that will see him in all 13 counties before the Friday, June 7 election: “I haven't run in the European election before. I ran multiple times for my local council, I think I must have done a good enough job because they kept on re-electing me.

“As a Sinn Féin representative, all we're looking for is an opportunity. Because we know people want change.

“People want change from the last number of decades. Sinn Féin are the leading voice of change. As part of that we need a strong Sinn Féin team in Brussels to be able to work hand-in-hand to maximise what we can get the EU to do for Ireland.”