Mary Lou McDonald – Slugger O'Toole

Mary Lou McDonald and the forgotten people of the Northern Ireland ‘Troubles’…

Andy Pollak on August 17, 2022, 7:00 am

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Silent!

My core contention in writing this column is that for more than 400 years there have been two clashing politico-religious cultures on this island – Catholic nationalist and Protestant unionist – and that for the past century these have been forced into the ‘narrow ground’ of Northern Ireland, with disastrous consequences for all concerned. I hold that before Irish people can come together peacefully and harmoniously in the same political unit, there have to be mechanisms in place to allow …

McDonald tells her party this is their moment but will they seize it?

David McCann on October 30, 2021, 5:39 pm

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Sinn Fein President, Mary Lou McDonald addressed her party in Dublin this evening. The Opposition Leader free from the 2019 electoral setbacks and is now a leader who could look with optimism about where the party stands in the polls and make a bid for the position of Taoiseach. The party is pitching itself as the main vehicle for change, but falls short of ruling out a potential coalition with her main rivals. For the talk about Sinn Fein being …

A decade of opportunity? Sinn Fein meet for their first pandemic Ard Fheis

David McCann on October 30, 2021, 12:26 pm

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At the Helix in North Dublin, Sinn Fein delegates gathered for the first time in a COVID 19 context. The party has much to be happy about they are doing well in the polls in the South and are being touted to become the largest party in the North after the next election. The leadership team of Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O’Neill is now nearly four years in post and has not been without challenges. From the disastrous elections …

The banner is one thing but the New York parade has always raised eyebrows

Sarah Creighton on March 18, 2019, 10:53 am

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The St Patrick’s Day parade in New York has always been controversial. In the 1980s and 1990s, while Northern Ireland was in the middle of the Troubles, NORAID would walk in the New York parade and collect money for the IRA. In 1983 Michael Flannery, who organised NORAID, was chosen as grand marshal. The decision lead to a number of politicians boycotting the event that year. The New York parade has a long history of being anti LGBT. It was …

“Fair employment and equal opportunities legislation are built upon open and transparent practices, free from political interference…”

Pete Baker on February 19, 2019, 4:26 pm

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The, at best, ill-considered comments by Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald yesterday, on potential candidates from within the PSNI to succeed George Hamilton as Chief Constable, have prompted a sharp reminder from the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland to the NI Policing Board of its responsibilities under equality legislation to recruit in a non-discriminatory way. The Equality Commission has expressed its concern about the recent comments made by the Sinn Féin President about the appointment of a new Chief …

Slugger TV reviews the political year of 2018

David McCann on December 21, 2018, 11:31 am

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Slugger TV: Episode 21 from Northern Visions NvTv on Vimeo. Panel this month are Alan Meban, Andersonstown News columnist Andree Murphy and Commentator, Martin McAuley. David McCannDavid McCann holds a PhD in North-South relations from University of Ulster. You can follow him on twitter @dmcbfs

Did Peter Robinson blunder into the border poll debate too early?

Brian Walker on August 6, 2018, 10:14 am

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Coming late to the Peter Robinson speech at Glenties and its aftermath, I’m struck by two elements of it, one of which has been hardly picked up. In the text I was offered, the discussion of a border poll which overshadowed the rest of it didn’t appear at all. Tommie Gorman of RTE has explained. I chaired the Friday evening session (27 July) in the Glenties Highlands Hotel where Peter Robinson was the guest speaker. The references to a united Ireland …

“almost in the space of trying to undermine confidence in the new Garda Commissioner…”

Mick Fealty on June 28, 2018, 10:51 am

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To Brian’s pointed question about Leo, Mary Lou and Drew, I’d add another. What does Mary Lou’s Dail offensive tell us about SF’s attitude to the new and fairly (as far as we can tell) appointed Garda Commissioner and the mechanism of the southern state? Like their attack on the Special Criminal in the week the Hutch-Kinihan feud began (ie, in the first week of the last southern General Election) it perhaps suggests the SF leader is bound to an …

#sfaf18 Sinn Féin vows to take responsibility in government in South, while asking DUP to do same in North

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on June 16, 2018, 9:43 pm

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Coverage of Saturday at the Sinn Féin ard fheis in Belfast with party overwhelmingly rejecting a motion that would have given freedom of conscience to members and representatives around abortion policy, and Mary Lou McDonald making her first presidential address an an annual gathering of the party.

Mary Lou McDonald: Intergovernmental Conference needed, not a shadow Assembly that gives “a veneer of accountability to direct rule”

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on March 26, 2018, 11:02 pm

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Speaking at QUB this evening, Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald once again dismissed the idea of a transitional Assembly during the ongoing political stalemate, saying that it would give “a veneer of accountability to direct rule”. Instead, she said the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference should be convened to “produce … a pathway to bring forward the legislation and resources to secure these rights and implement the agreements”.

Sceptical, not cynical about “the long drawn out attempt to breathe life back into the Stormont arrangement”

Pete Baker on February 12, 2018, 9:09 pm

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Whilst on Saturday Brian highlighted the question of “the prospect of Sinn Fein’s return to Stormont as Mr Adams’ parting gift”, today Ed Moloney posits another, equally plausible scenario… You know, a cynic might suspect that the whole thing, at least the long drawn out attempt to breathe life back into the Stormont arrangement, was staged or timed so that the breakthrough would happen just when Sinn Fein want to present a new, Adams-free image to the electorate down South, one …

Mary Lou McDonald looks forward to working with the DUP and promises no return to the status quo at Stormont

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on February 10, 2018, 4:24 pm

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Sinn Féin’s new party president, Uachtarán Shinn Féin, Mary Lou McDonald paid tribute to her friend and mentor Gerry Adams and spoke of a desire to double the size of the party while changing how it operates. She also spoke about looking forward to working with the DUP and promised that there would be no return to the status quo at Stormont.

Michelle O’Neill to become Vice President of Sinn Fein

David McCann on January 29, 2018, 9:52 pm

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Sinn Fein’s Northern Leader, Michelle O’Neill is set to become the Vice President of the party under Mary Lou McDonald as President. The new team will take over on February 10th at the special Ard Fheis in Dublin. Her remarks below; “I am honoured to be nominated as the new Leas Uachtarán of Sinn Féin. I look forward after the Special Ard Fheis to work with our new party President Mary Lou McDonald and wider national leadership team. “We are …

Mary Lou McDonald faces battle of margins as FG and FF set to scrap over every loose seat

Mick Fealty on January 20, 2018, 7:45 am

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IAs we await the confirmation whether or not Mary Lou McDonald was the only candidate for President of Sinn Fein, our own Patricia McBride tipped Michelle O’Neill for Vice President on RTE Drivetime last evening. So it looks like two women at the top. Or rather front of house. Power up to now has rested almost exclusively with the parties shadowy ‘leadership team’. Neither women can expect to be let too far off the party’s halter. Nor are they likely …

Arlene Foster spoke no empty words. The road to renewed cross community cooperation may run through Dublin and Brussels

Brian Walker on January 14, 2018, 2:17 pm

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Arlene Foster’s demarche surely marks a truce or even peace between the Irish government and the DUP in the squabbles over Brexit. It will also consolidate Dublin’s improving relations with Westminster. All this is welcome. Neither wants a hard land border on the island or trade barriers between the Republic and Great Britain. It was just that Dublin’s priority was elevating no hard border to a position of veto over the UK government’s whole strategy, while the DUP had a …

Mary Lou to pick up Gerry’s legacy or just to orchestrate his long good-bye…

Mick Fealty on November 21, 2017, 3:00 pm

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Given the previously cited ten-year transition, sceptics will doubt the reality of Adams’ departure. In fact, he’ll likely melt back into the collective leadership of Sinn Fein. With only Sean Murray left on the Ard Comhairle, the military men now mostly sit back in the shadows. Their names are not widely known to the public but they are familiar to senior members in other parties from the periodic bouts of negotiations that might almost have been engineered to give them …

Gerry Adams begins process of passing on leadership baton at buoyant ard fheis #sfaf17

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on November 18, 2017, 9:55 pm

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At a buoyant ard fheis, a robust debate on the Sinn Féin policy on abortion and a tribute to Martin McGuinness preceded their leader’s keynote in which Gerry Adams confirmed that he will step down as party president and won’t contest the next Dáil election.

Fresh start for Sinn Fein, or a case of “meet the new boss, same as the old boss”?

Mick Fealty on November 18, 2017, 7:09 am

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And so tonight, Gerry goes. Or does he? Henry McDonald writing yesterday: …sources within the mainstream Irish republican movement and veteran Adams-watchers believe the 69-year-old will still hold the centre of power in Sinn Féin from behind the scenes long after his official successor is elevated to the top post. Having survived as head of his party longer than five British prime ministers, six Irish premiers and five US presidents, Adams will use the televised speech to set out a timetable for …

Fine Gael on Sinn Féin: “We couldn’t work with them”

Pete Baker on January 29, 2017, 5:13 pm

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Something to keep in mind when criticising others… There was a bit of a kerfuffle following Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s mid-term non-answer to a question on the potential for any future coalition involving Sinn Féin. The Irish Examiner records Enda Kenny saying While strongly ruling out doing any deal with Fianna Fáil, Enda Kenny said “depending on the result you gave as a member of the electorate, politicians have to work with the result, so, Sinn Féin seem to be converted …

Gerry Adams’ White House ‘controversy’: “Quite apart from being bumptious, paranoid and absurdly self-pitying…”

Pete Baker on March 19, 2016, 7:51 pm

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In the Irish News Newton Emerson highlights the unintended consequences of Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams’ intemperate outburst following his recent misunderstanding with security at the White House. From the Irish News GERRY Adams could have been pragmatic and diplomatic about being locked out of President Obama’s St Patrick’s Day reception and simply laughed it off. It is all too believable that the White House has the same hapless jobsworths in its security hut as everywhere else – and that has …