Failure to set out intentions clearly may have hurt Sinn Féin, says Ó Broin

Sinn Féin’s failure to set out clearer plans in key policy areas may have contributed to the party’s recent problems in the polls, according to Eoin Ó Broin, who says the housing plan published this week has the potential to attract back previous supporters and appeal to undecideds.
Speaking to Anton Savage on Newstalk on Sunday, Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson said he was pleased with the reaction to the outline of how it would, if in government, deliver some 300,000 new homes, including 50,000 affordable ones over a five-year period.
He said that although there had been the expected criticism from the Government and other rival parties, “nobody’s thrashing the plan. Lots and lots of people in the public and private sectors are saying it has merit, there are some really interesting things and we are the only party who has set out a comprehensive, multiannual, fully costed plan to deliver tens of thousands of affordable homes”.
Pressed on why the party’s high profile policies on housing hasn’t previously translated into higher levels of support given the importance the public attaches to the subject, Mr Ó Broin suggested the party may have struggled to communicate its intentions to the electorate.
“If I was to be self-critical,” he said, “I would say we probably have not been strong enough in setting out to people in very clear terms, not only what we want to do in government, but how we would do it and how that would benefit people.
“The whole point of publishing this plan … we’re saying to voters, ‘look, housing is the number one issue for you in this upcoming election’. And keep in mind in mind, in those polls, 10 to 20 per cent of people are undecided. ‘Listen to what we’re saying. Look at the plan. Sinn Féin is looking to bring home ownership back into the reach of working people, give us a chance to do it’.”
He said the party’s willingness to engage with key industry stakeholders when formulating the policy and commitment to establish structures in which they would have a voice had been reflected in the reaction from those representative bodies in recent days.
“What we’ve done is gone and talked to the people who deliver the homes on the public and private sector sides. And the question I kept asking them was, ‘what do you need to be able to deliver more good quality homes at an accelerated pace and, where possible, at a lower price?’ And we’ve taken that advice.
“The Housing Commission has also made really strong recommendations. One of the big recommendations that we’ve accepted is they want a housing supply oversight executive. We’ve talked that through with them and it’s a very sensible idea to get together the folks from a big budgets, Uisce Éireann, the Transport Authority, the energy suppliers and public and private sector developers to align their capital programs.”