The Irish general election isn't focussed on Britain—so why is the media acting like it is?

This Saturday, the Irish electorate votes in what will be the first general election since Brexit gave the politics of the Republic newfound importance to decision-makers and commentators in Britain. The incumbent Taoiseach, Fine Gael’s Leo Varadkar, looks set be the biggest loser from an election that he chose to call with his party slipping to third place in the latest opinion polls.

Varadkar, his government and Irish politics, in general, have been a subject of much confusion in Britain in recent years. That it took Brexit, and more specifically the issues of the Irish border, to awaken an interest in Irish affairs for much of the British media and political class is telling. There are few European nations that take as little interest in the politics of their closest neighbour as Britain does.

[su_pullquote]"Commentary in Britain has focused on how the Irish election compares to British politics"[/su_pullquote]

During the election, commentary in Britain has focused on Varadkar and how the Irish election compares to, or has been influenced by, British politics. Before Fine Gael slipped to third, Andrew Neil remarked that “Varadkar’s anti-Britain, small country campaign” had backfired. Another British media heavyweight, Robert Peston, watched the final leader’s debate of the election and bemoaned on Twitter that Irish leaders were “polite and courteous,” asking: “Why is all that possible in Ireland but not here [Britain]?”

This sort of commentary risks ignoring how the wider Irish electorate views Britain—and how Varadkar’s approving ratings rose when he was seen as hardline over Brexit. It also fails to mention that the two parties benefiting from Fine Gael’s slump in the poll are Fianna Fáil (whose approach to Brexit is almost identical) and Sinn Féin, historically the political wing of the IRA and with a strong Irish Republican heritage. No one is thinking about voting for Sinn Féin because they think the Irish government has been too hard on Britain.

Meanwhile, Varadkar and his Fianna Fáil counterpart Micheál Martin have effectively been in government together—the two parties are so ideologically alike that their similarity is a running joke in Irish politics. Is it any wonder that things were good-natured during this week’s debate?

Although they are just two examples, Neil and Peston’s comments typify a lack of understanding of Irish politics in Britain. Take the response to Sinn Féin’s surge in the pre-election polls: yes, the numbers are unprecedented, but the party is only standing 42 candidates. Even if they perform better than expected, they will not take control of Dáil Éireann (which has 158 members).

Meanwhile, polling that placed Sinn Féin in the lead this week also highlighted that Fianna Fáil is still most voters’ ideal choice as the senior partner in a coalition, while Sinn Féin is the least popular among voters as a party of government. As the Dáil is elected via PR-STV and a coalition government if almost guaranteed, this factor is of particular importance.

If one must draw a comparison between this election and British politics, then it is most similar to the 2017 General Election that Theresa May called after triggering Article 50. In Ireland, a chronic housing crisis, unstable employment landscape, worries of a return to the boom and bust of the Celtic Tiger era and general dissatisfaction with the long term parties of government, have combined to reframe the election in a way similar to the shift that saw May lose her majority. Certainly, the approval Varadkar and Fine Gael enjoyed during Brexit negotiations has vanished just as May’s post-Article 50 honeymoon did.

Most important is that whoever is Taoiseach, and whatever the nature of the government they lead, the fundamental position of the Irish government concerning Brexit is unlikely to change. Leo Varadkar was stating a very simple fact, widely recognised within the EU, when he said that Britain would be negotiating as a ‘small country’ in the future. Anti-British sentiment had nothing to do with it. Indeed, the Westminster government could hardly have found a politician more inclined to be ‘pro-Britain’ holding the office of Taoiseach than Varadkar.

Regardless of the result on polling day, and whatever parties end up forming the next government, it would be better for all concerned if the British political and media class learnt to talk about Ireland on its own terms, rather than as an extension of British politics.