Oisín Coghlan

The other problem is.

We have a proportionate electoral system, but I think really our voters aren't proportionate, partly because of that relatability issue and particularly with smaller parties, less so with the larger parties.

They vote for Labour, put them in government, or they vote for the Greens, put them in government, but they get like 15% of the vote or whatever and they often get a third of their policies through on 15% of the vote and then they are proportionate.

punished hugely by the electorate because they didn't get 100% of their policies.

So we have a purity in terms of our support, our relativism.

I mean, most parties know that you put out your platform, then you negotiate a coalition, you get as much as you can through, but they get punished by their supporters for not getting all of it through.

And so then we end up with going around in a circle.

Yes, and maybe you don't have to.

I have to feel some sympathy for Sinn Féin that twice the level of votes of SOC Dems and voters and certainly the media seem to be getting tired of them being in opposition more than they are getting tired of finna gaelding in government for 15 years or finna foil for 10 years.

It's certainly like they missed their chance in 2020, but like they haven't had the chance to govern and yet people are tired of the same spokespeople.

But that's also freedom of association.

No one's forced, unlike in the north where we forced people to go into coalition together.

Parties here aren't forced to go into coalition, but it is true they missed an opportunity in 2020.

The numbers, they could have had a different outcome if they had more candidates or different parties could have volunteered to go in.

But I do want to make one point.

I also think it's being oversold that they're not a left wing party.

They're not as left wing as the Labour, potentially as Labour, they're different in terms of their policies from Labour, Sockdams and the Greens.

So I do think form a very coherent policy bloc.

But I think a housing policy under a Sinn Féin Minister of Housing in a coalition government will be very different to the housing policy we've had for the last 15 years and more left wing.

Dan, just put the tin hat on this for us.