SINN FÉIN made a big mistake in 2020.

The party had been on a journey away from revolutionary politics towards being a viable choice to lead Ireland: but it did not recognise its best chance.

Normally adept at strategising for elections to maximise the number of seats it might get, it slipped up in the general election in the Irish Republic that year.

It didn’t run enough candidates. As a consequence, it led the field in percentage share of the first-preference votes (24.5%) but came in behind Fianna Fáil.

This was an enormous breakthrough for a party which had had problems winning over an electorate wary of its past associations with the Provisional IRA.

There were now three major parties of roughly equal representation in the Dáil and, while two of them, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, could block Sinn Féin from entering a coalition by teaming up with the Greens, it seemed unlikely they would be able to repeat that stunt at the next election.

Sinn Féin under Mary Lou McDonald started preparing for government.

One of those hired for the job of making the party attractive was journalist Siobhán Fenton. She was not a party activist but she had been spotted as someone young and energetic and concerned with liberal issues.

They asked her if she would like to work on their media campaign.

For almost five........

© The Irish Post