WRITING THE NEXT CHAPTERS IN IRELAND’S HISTORY It has been a busy 12 months for Sinn Féin since the 2020 Leinster House elections. They are the second largest partner in a five party executive coalition in the North, while, in Leinster House, the party is leading the opposition. So, with Mary Lou McDonald having key roles as party president, the first Sinn Féin opposition leader in Leinster House and the first woman in that role, An Phoblacht thought now was the time to sit down and get her views on this year of change and crisis. In a free flowing discussion, Mary Lou talked to An Phoblacht editor Robbie Smyth about Sinn Féin’s determination in the next year to challenge the coalition establishment in Dublin. She highlighted key issues like Irish unity, housing in all its aspects, the health service, and building a just economy, while unwrapping her personal take on what it means to be an Irish republican in the 21st century. THE POLITICS OF CHANGE The February 2020 election and “the huge victory for Sinn Fein marked a turning point” said Mary Lou, adding that, “the election marked an absolute highpoint in terms of the politics of change, not just for the South, but for the island as a whole”. Focusing on the atmosphere during the election campaign in 2020, McDonald said there was “a sense that 100 years on” after “generations of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil”, that “there was a real sense in the last election that at last there is a viable alternative, that Sinn Féin can be in government, can lead a government, and people were prepared to back us on that basis, and give us that chance. That was huge”. “I think that sense of political change has continued through 2020 and into this year” said McDonald, who believes that this “is an extraordinary and significant thing in itself”. “The year has been really, really hard for people. People have lost their jobs. Businesses have their backs to the wall. People have been sick. People have lost their lives. Families have been bereaved. People have been left very, very isolated. Our frailties as human beings have been exposed”. “It has been a tough year, a really, really hard year. So in the context of that huge human social and economic challenge, the
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fact that people are still up for the big change is remarkable. It has been an extraordinary year in so many ways”.
TURN TOWARDS SINN FÉIN Staying on the experience of the 2020 election campaign, An Phoblacht asked Mary Lou was she conscious of the turn towards Sinn Féin in the campaign? “Absolutely, you couldn’t miss it. This is the great thing about Ireland and Irish people. If you go out and talk to people and ask people how things are, people will tell you. I think it’s probably the nature, the personality and the character of our party and our style of politics, there’s no standing on ceremony”. “Everywhere we went, people told us ‘we want change’. We now believe you can lead this change”. “Every moment has it its time. I believe the politics of reunification, of a new Ireland has now come of age. I think we are ready collectively as a society, nationally North and South, we
ISSUE NUMBER 1 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 anphoblacht
