Siobhán Fenton worked for Sinn Féin. She explains why it has not won power
Inside Politics with Hugh Linehan

Siobhán Fenton worked for Sinn Féin. She explains why it has not won power

B2Upper-intermediateSeptember 30, 202653 min

Sinn Fein emerged from 2020's general election in pole position to challenge Fine Gael and Fianna Fail and potentially take power next time around. That didn't happen, with support ebbing away as a series of events, both internal and external, shook the party's confidence. That's the picture painted by Siobhán Fenton, a journalist who worked in Sinn Féin's press office from 2020 to 2024, in her book Ourselves Alone. Hugh interviews Siobhán about why she joined Sinn Fein and what she learned about the inner workings of a cross-border party. They look back on a ser...

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I'm Hugh Linehan. A recurring theme among my colleagues in the political staff when we talk

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Hello there, and you're very welcome to the Inside Politics podcast from The Irish Times. I'm Hugh Linehan. A recurring theme among my colleagues in the political staff when we talk about the different Irish political parties is that Sinn Féin is a little bit different. It's harder to get stories. They don't leak so much. It's a kind of impervious black box at times,

0:19

or at least that's the impression I get. So you can imagine the excitement among them all when they discovered that a former party insider was going to be writing a book about her experiences working over the course of the four and a half years or so between the 2020 general election and the 2024 general election. That person was Siobhan Fenton, who was working

0:40

in the press office for that time, and her book is called Ourselves Alone. Siobhan, hi. Hi, Hugh. Thanks for having me. Not at all. It's a pleasure. The book is a fantastic read and very illuminating and enlightening in various ways. It's been out for a couple of weeks now. What do you think of

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