The Long Game: Inside Sinn Féin

by Aoife Moore

Inside the rise of the political party, once subordinate to the IRA, that is on the brink of taking power in Ireland

Sinn Féin, long widely-regarded as the political wing of the Provisional IRA, is the most popular political party in both Northern Ireland and the Republic. A movement once synonymous with a paramilitary campaign is on the brink of taking real power through purely democratic means. But if Sinn Féin has mastered the art of electoral politics, it remains strangely opaque. Who really runs the party? How is it funded? And what can we expect of it as a party of government?

Aoife Moore, Irish Journalist of the Year 2021. explores these and other burning questions in The Long Game. Drawing on exclusive interviews with current and former members of Sinn Féin, she builds up a picture of a party undergoing a profound, and still incomplete, transformation. She looks at the key individuals and moments that put the party on its present course, and she explores tensions within the party and the wider republican movement.

Packed with revelatory details, The Long Game is a groundbreaking telling of contemporary Ireland's biggest and most elusive political story.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Ireland, History, Irish Literature, Audiobook

328 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 7, 2023

Reviews

[Isabella · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was not a well-written book. It was poorly structured, and lacked a central thesis. It mainly seemed to be a collection of negative anecdotes about Sinn Féin without relevant historical context. You can tell it was written by a journalist; it read like a series of unconnected news articles.

The main thing that bothered me was the lack of an argument. What was Moore actually saying? She contradicted herself many times. One that particularly struck me was her constant mention that Sinn Féin need to own up to their past, that they need to take responsibility - yet when they did so through displays of republicanism (Mary Lou McDonald saying tiocfaidh ár lá, Martin McGuinness and other key members admitting IRA connections, etc.), she also viewed this as problematic. The lack of connection between chapters made it even harder to understand her viewpoint. She seemed to boil it down to Sinn Féin = shady, which I think is a little simplistic.

It can't be denied that the killing of civilians is morally wrong on all levels, and that many actions of the IRA during the Troubles led to horrible, unnecessary deaths. What Moore fails to point out, however, is that these civilian killings by the IRA were nothing compared to the civilian deaths caused by the loyalist paramilitaries and the British security forces. While 35% of deaths caused by republican paramilitaries were civilians, 85% of people killed by loyalist paramilitaries were civilians, and of those killed by the British security forces, the people that were appointed by the British government, 52% of the people that they killed were civilians. Obviously all of these deaths are wrong, tragic and unnecessary, but why does Moore ignore the shameful actions of the British government and its supporters that killed a far larger proportion of innocent people? This lack of relevant context about the actions of the IRA makes me question how much other context is lacking from the rest of the book.

I also did not like her use of emotive and leading language, which, combined with no context, can leave the reader with a very different impression that what the reality actually was. For example: "Members of the IRA were now politicians. Men who had left school with very little education, and who had no trade or career due to a life dedicated to violence, were now representing some of the most deprived areas in the UK.". Alternatively, this could be phrased as: "Freedom fighters now turned to politics to make a difference. Men who had left school without being afforded the same opportunities as the wealthy colonisers, who had dedicated their lives to achieving a fairer and more equal country for their children, were standing for office in their local area." Her way of phrasing this struck me as being ignorant of the circumstances of why these areas were deprived (and no, it wasn't Sinn Féin's fault).

Sinn Féin are certainly not a perfect party, but neither is this a perfectly fair book. Two stars because I did learn a few new things from it.

[Gayle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This would have been far more original and interesting if it focused on the present popularity of Sinn Fein and how that sits with the party's past, rather than the other way around.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent book. The first half of it covers fairly traditional Sinn Fein history that has been covered in numerous other sources without adding much. The book begins picking up steam during its second half as it gets into the nuances of Sinn Fein during the last twenty years both in Northern Ireland and the Republic. There are some true insights here, particularly the chapter concerning the disfunction of the Sinn Fein chapter in Derry. But Moore is a journalist who at times gets mired in such inside baseball details that it often becomes unclear what the significance of relaying such events are other than revealing "dirt" on the party. Also, the book could have used a better editor as Moore keeps repeating certain phrases that become irritating. Overall, if you want to know the dynamics of recent Sinn Fein, it is worth the read. For someone looking for a a more general understanding, this isn't your book.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a brave, revealing and important book by Aoife Moore... highlights the proliferation and socialisation of militarised masculinities in Sinn Féin

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Long Game: Inside Sinn Féin by Aoife Moore offers an insightful and well-researched look into the inner workings of one of Ireland’s most significant political parties. Moore does a great job of providing historical context while weaving in interviews and behind-the-scenes details.

While the book is informative, at times the pacing felt uneven, and certain sections dragged a bit. However, Moore’s clear writing style and ability to break down complex political dynamics made it an engaging read overall. It provides a nuanced view of Sinn Féin, offering readers a deeper understanding of its evolution and current role in Irish politics. Definitely a worthwhile read for anyone interested in modern Irish history and politics.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviews claiming its lack of policy discussion is a drawback are missing the point, it was an inside look into the party’s culture and history. Another drawback pointed out is its discussion of “nothing that tabloids and magazines haven’t covered over the years” however, the people who are driving its recent surge in popularity, aka young people, didn’t live through these “you had to be there” moments, and Moore describes the tensions, controversies, and conflicted feelings involved in these events that preceded the lives of those who voted SF in 2020, with delicacy and respect for those involved (not soemthing you often find in tabloids). It is well researched, reflective, and well worth a read.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. I think some of the structuring is weird. Like surely you explain how the party is structured in like chapter 3 rather than chapter 13? Other than that, interesting that SF would only talk to Moore off the record. It’s not a good look for them.

[Olin Moseley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I still rock w them idgaf

[Clara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5

[Mary O'Donnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book. Great to get a perspective from someone from the North and enjoyed the anonymous insights. Not sure it’d make you want to vote for Sinn Féin considering how many former members call them lunatics but feeling a bit more informed on why everyone’s parents are anti Sinn Féin - from a political perspective and not just because of the IRA

[Conor Tannam · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read that was fairly awful in places. A real culture of bullying (women in particular) and a general sense of chaos means that the prospect of SF led government in Ireland is a scary thought. Covering up sexual assault and criminality seem to be their modus operandi.

[Senioreuge · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really anything new here, however it is well written and it flows along easily. The lack of named sources allows it to be a bit like a press op piece.

[Harry Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, but not much an outsider wouldn't suspect. Surprised how little impact Jonathan Dowdall had north and south of the border.

[Brenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

The true moral of this story is that anyone named Gerry in Irish politics is bound to be the worst.

Honestly tho, I went into this book with existing opinions about politics & conflict in NI based on sensationalism and pop culture, and while I’m not completely diverted from those opinions, this book was a sobering bit of perspective on the other voices in the story. Aoife clearly has an agenda in this novel, which frustrated me, and her arrangement of the timeline is a little confusing via audiobook (reasons why this is down a star) but she does an incredible job presenting witnesses and it was a great listen anyways.

[Jak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read to understand the history of modern Sinn Féin but lacking referencing / sourcing and feels very opinionated. Loses focus in the latter half and starts to ramble with little direction.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Valuable history and insight.

[Dylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

succinct account of the history of Sinn Fein. fairly neutral and unbiased. a pleasant read. drags on a bit at the end

[Killian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good read. Nothing really new or incredible added to the Sinn Fein story.

[Fionnbharr Rodgers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wee bit tabloid ‘tell-all,’ but not bad.

[Matt Fuller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but a bit of a hit job

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I lived through The Troubles, albeit in London, and they formed a pretty harrowing backdrop to anyone's life then if they followed current affairs in the UK and Ireland in those days. I now live in the Republic where Sinn Féin are the main opposition party, so these two facts prompted me to get this book. I have always viewed Sinn Féin with deep suspicion - and that has only been further entrenched by my reading of this book. It comes across as a deeply paranoid and suspicious group of people who are obsessed with controlling their own narrative, to the point where any party member who 'flies solo' is frozen out (or worse). This does not bode well for government in the Republic should the next election result in them entering into power. Those who think Sinn Féin is an open and democratic left-wing political party which believes in bettering people's lives needs to read this book. The scales will fall from their eyes. It is little short of Stalinist in its partice of discipline within the party. How will that work out in government?

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of the current & future game required

This book was close to excellent on developments & events from the 1960s to recently. There were two important general items missing. One was an analysis of how SF is doing now, how the party appears to be able to swing the housing crisis to its side (despite campaigning against many housing developments). There was no account of how went from being a traditional champion of "No EEC/EU," including sharing a platform with Nigel Farrage in 2012 to embracing the EU and opposing Brexit in 2016. The other was how SF will fare in the future. Will they go into coalition? What if the housing crisis is solved - would that dent their rise in the polls? And the big question - given that SF is known for subverting institutional norms and in the recent past, and their top-down anti-democratic approach to internal politics, would they step down if out of office?

[Phil James · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who grew up in the Republic of Ireland, but well away from the border, Northern Ireland politics was not something I was overly familiar with. Sure, I know the name of various politicians and parties but I am fairly ignorant of a lot of the details. I'm aware of Aoife Moore from her being on TV regularly talking about various topics as a journalist and then heard her on the radio promoting this new book she had written and so bought it. I'm glad I did. It's great. It's written really well, in a nice easy to read style. It is not overly packed with details which might make it harder to read but gives a good overview. If you have a passing interest in Sinn Féin or Northern politics it is well worth a read. I did notice one error - in the last chapter the year of Bobby Storey's death is a year out but other than this (nitpicking) it is nigh on flawless.

[Sean Shee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know if 3 stars is fair or unfair. I would have liked to have been told more about SF's policies and if there is any ideology behind it. But this book either just doesn't cover that, or SF don't have policies and certainly not an ideology as it's just set on the whims of the leadership in the shadows. With this being the case, id have liked to have known why the party has no relationship with socialism despite its history with it.

Otherwise, interesting read. Especially after the first third that goes through how SF came to be from the IRA (which if you're reading this you probably already know).

If you want to know about where SF are at in 2024 sure read it. It can't hurt.

[Ronan Doyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tough one to assess: many limitations are down mostly to stonewalling and gaslighting from a subject not willing to be subjected that Moore details well in her intro; given that, the emergence of a broadly insightful and even occasionally involving read is impressive. Even so it's a far cry from the groundbreaking telling the back blurb promises, with little of this likely to change existing public narratives. Choppy pace and structure hardly help: the third last chapter defining terms that have been used throughout is evidence of some really sloppy editing.

[Kevin Doyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that promised much. I admire the author and appreciate the obstacles she faced pursuing this work, but overall it lacked coherency in terms of its focus. Maybe SF are a chimera but I think this view of the party focused too much on headline events in the party’s history rather than taking a thoroughgoing analysis of what the party stands for. Not for the first time has it been said that SF are just another version of Fianna Fáil - this book bears that out in default. Capitalism fear not then.

[Jacquelyn Dohoney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I generally shy away from books about politics because I just can’t get into them. But having visited Ireland a few times, I’ve found Irish politics to be very interesting. My first time in Ireland, my husband and I embarked on a road trip through the UK from London to the home I lived in in Ipswich, up through Scotland. And then we took a short flight to Belfast. Belfast is unlike any other place I’ve been. It is a beautiful place full of a rich history, and one of my favorite places in the world. But Irish politics is not just a footnote in history there. It is very much real and, at the time in 2019, still very much in play. I visited every historical place I could in the few days I was there (some of which I won’t name), and found the people to be incredibly kind and inviting. But I couldn’t help but notice the signs pasted all over the city, “British troops not welcome here.” Needless to say, although everyone was so incredibly nice, I did not tell them where I was born, despite that I have lived in the US most of my life.

This book is a great look into the history of Irish politics and what went into making it what it has become today. There were a lot of names I recognized from previous readings, and some I didn’t. Some turned on a metaphorical lightbulb for me, making some of those unnamed places I visited make a bit more sense. For me, this book was very easy to follow and extremely well-written. However, if you don’t know anything about the history of Irish politics or Ireland itself, it may be a tad hard to follow the timelines. It is absolutely worth a read, though, in my opinion. Hats off to the author for risking a lot more than just her career to get this book out there. I understand some of what it took, and as a reader, I greatly appreciate the look into what was clearly years of intense work.

Huge thanks to Independent Publishers Group | Penguin and NetGalley for sending me this ARC for review! All of my reviews are given honestly!

[Ian J. Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a book you read casually.
It’s a book you read slowly, with context, memory, and a raised eyebrow.

The Long Game pulls back the curtain on Sinn Féin’s evolution with a journalist’s patience rather than a polemicist’s rage. Aoife Moore doesn’t shout. She traces. Step by step, election by election, handshake by handshake. The result is less a thriller and more a long chess match — which, frankly, feels appropriate.

Having lived in Dublin city for about ten years, this book landed differently for me. I’ve heard the conversations in pubs, on buses, in kitchens late at night. I’ve watched attitudes soften, harden, flip, and contradict themselves within the same sentence. Moore captures that contradiction well: the pragmatism behind the rhetoric, the discipline behind the slogans, and the patience behind what often looks like sudden success.

The strength of this book is its refusal to oversimplify. Sinn Féin emerges neither as cartoon villains nor romantic rebels, but as a highly organized political machine that learned — slowly and deliberately — how power actually works in Ireland. The past is never ignored, but it’s also never allowed to hijack the analysis.

That said, this isn’t a page-turner in the traditional sense. It’s dense in places, heavy with internal party dynamics, electoral maths, and strategy. If you want drama, look elsewhere. If you want understanding — real, uncomfortable, adult understanding — this delivers.

What stayed with me most is the quiet inevitability Moore describes. Nothing here feels accidental. Every move feels rehearsed years in advance. Whether you admire that or fear it probably depends on where you stand — and that tension is exactly what makes the book worth reading.

Clear-eyed, grounded, and refreshingly unsensational.
A necessary read for anyone who wants to understand modern Irish politics beyond slogans and shouting.

[Emily Fritz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was intrigued when I saw this title. Sinn Fein has long been an active political party in Ireland, but it has been years since I heard anything about it. Of course, the primary reason is I don’t live in Ireland. I was, however, interested in an inside look at the party’s history and their vision of the future. The Long Game provided a detailed look at both.

Moore is a journalist who is able to remain impartial on her subject while still asking questions that prompts the reader to critically look at Sinn Fein. This book is not for those looking for an overview of the party, but for those who want Sinn Fein’s full history. The detail was amazing and I was surprised that all the information did not become overwhelming. Instead, each piece added to the story and helped bring Sinn Fein in focus.

I highly recommend for those interested in Irish politics, Sinn Fein itself, and/or a non-fiction book that will keep you turning the pages.

[Cold · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writer can't really write about political/organizational structures, it's all individuals and events.

This was a history of politicians above all. Many chapters are structured around an individual, typically focused on their scandal more than anything else.

I appreciated the basic history of the debates over electoral politics within the IRA, mainly because I don't know much about Irish history.

For me the most interesting aspect was how politicians were subordinant to the Party. SF has incredible political discipline. The problem with that is scandals can fester if the party is slow to address, but the upside is likely why and how SF has risen to being the most popular party in both the North and South.

I don't know. It wasn't a great book, but it was useful as the first in a cluster of books I will read about Ireland.