THE by-election results in Dublin Central and Galway West were seriously bad for Sinn Féin. There’s no other way to spin them.

Admittedly they are two very different constituencies: one a complicated mix of changing inner-city demographics, and the other a vast, sprawling heterogeneous area with urban districts in the east, Gaeltachtaí, and remote rural areas in the west.

Nevertheless, the outcomes pose serious challenges for Sinn Féin’s tactics in the next general election scheduled for 2029.

Yes, of course by-elections are completely different from general elections. For a start, people aren’t electing a government.

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Instead, in many respects they’re giving their verdict on the current government, so governments don’t expect to do well.

Despite what they say, including Fine Gael winning in Galway West, the government parties did badly, Fianna Fáil coming off worst.

Just to put it in context, FF in Dublin got 4.2% of the vote, the worst ever by-election performance in its history, with the party losing its deposit.

It’s a graphic illustration of the change in Dublin Central where, from 1981-2011, Bertie Ahern was cock of the walk.

The result also illustrates that FF is a dead duck in Dublin, with the seat of Minister of Justice Jim O’Callaghan in serious jeopardy.........

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