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Mary Lou McDonald maintains there are no questions being raised internally about her leadership. Leah Farrell
Analysis
Under the bonnet of Sinn Féin: Ard Fheis shows a party in flux and unsure of its path
Sinn Féin closed ranks on leadership concerns as divisions surfaced at the Ard Fheis in Belfast this weekend.
TENSIONS WERE HIGH at the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis on Friday night as the 1,200-strong party members gathered to debate a motion to ban fox hunting.
The debate had speakers both for and against and offered forth a rarity for Sinn Féin:
An event where members publicly voiced criticism of the party.
It was perhaps one of the most revealing debates that gave great insight to where the party is right now, telling the story of an organisation unsure of which way to go on a number of issues.
Speakers in support of the motion to ban fox hunting, spoke about how the party was behind the times and at risk of losing young voters if it continued to support the blood sport.
Those against the motion said the party risked losing support in rural Ireland if they voted to ban fox hunting, pointing to the recent fuel protests, and how the government parties lost touch with people on the ground.
These members said Sinn Féin shouldn’t follow in those footsteps.
MEP Lynn Boylan told the party last night that “fox hunting on horseback is so archaic that even the Brits themselves have banned it”.
“It is time to listen to our young people. It is time to remain relevant and abandon our colonial past once and for all,” said Boylan.
TD for Cavan–Monaghan Matt Carthy spoke against the motion supporting the ban, stating that it was not about personal views but that supporting the motion would undo all the hard work done on the issue by the party.
TD Matt Carthy speaking against motion 29 last night which argued the party should support a ban on fox hunting.
— Christina Finn (@christinafinn8) April 25, 2026
Despite his argument, the party voted in favour of the motion.
He said the Ard Fheis clár was sent to lobby groups before members.https://t.co/sKb6A9aXhL pic.twitter.com/AAaFIwuaCN
However, he openly criticised how the clár of the ard fheis ended up being circulated to lobby groups before it was sent to members, which resulted in TDs being bombarded with emails to vote one way or another.
Criticisms aired
Carthy, the party’s justice spokesman, said he was speaking “on behalf of the Ard Comhairle”, stating that “issues like this are used to divide working class people”.
“It is not acceptable that this Ard Fheis clar was shared with outside groups before members of this party had even seen it,” he said.
If the motion to ban fox hunting passed “then next year it will be something else and then it will be another thing at the following year’s Ard Fheis, added Carthy.
A second delegate in favour of banning fox hunting said he was “denied access to this Ard Fheis as a delegate” and added that he had to “fight to get the right to come in here as we were registered to do. So there has been some stuff going on here that I am not particularly happy with”.
Another young member said the party shouldn’t stop at fox hunting, and should move to ban greyhound and horse racing.
A row of grey haired men sitting towards the back of the conference centre openly groaned at the remarks. “For f*ck sake,” said one.
It was proof that on this issue, the party is openly divided.
Having attended Sinn Féin party ard fheiseanna for over ten years, it was refreshing to see the party airing it’s differing views in public.
But that’s where it ended in terms of airing its dirty laundry for all to see.
When it comes to talk about unease about the party leadership, it was a message of ‘nothing to see here’ from senior party members this weekend.
Party leadership concerns
An article in The Sunday Times published just hours before the ard fheis kicked off put the cat among the pigeons.
It referenced how some within the party are unhappy with its direction under McDonald’s leadership, questioning if she will lead the party into the next general election.
The party leader dismissed the reports, telling the media that there is no plan to find her replacement. In fact, McDonald said she plans on going nowhere.
It was shutters down from senior party TDs who told The Journal at the ard fheis over the last two days that there are no rumblings within the party and no one is coming for the leadership.
“I would bet my life on it that she is leading this party into the next election,” said one TD, who said, in their view, McDonald had moved the party forward in recent years.
Another said they found the questions about the leadership were “bonkers”, stating that they had witnessed no signs of any sort of discontent towards McDonald.
This TD said, in their view, things were going very well in the party, stating that it was focusing on cost-of-living issues, but also pushing the united Ireland project.
One TD had an optimistic viewpoint, stating that if there is chatter about the leadership, it is only because that is par for the course for a growing party.
Speaking to grassroots members at the conference this afternoon, there was similar message.
“I have no issue with the party leadership. I think McDonald has moved the party forward and I haven’t heard of anyone being unhappy,” said one member.
Asked about a succession plan for the party when she does leave the political stage, McDonald said it is important to have a plan for renewal, but she stopped there.
Unlike other political parties, who have ministers openly speaking about their ambitions to be party leader one day or even Taoiseach, Sinn Féin’s frontbench never utter the words.
Actually, it is quite the opposite.
Pearse Doherty, who is one of the talked about contenders, alongside Matt Carthy, and others like Rose Conway-Walsh, has said on the record he has no interest in the job.
The debate on Friday evening gave the most informative glimpse under the bonnet of the party to date.
It is a party in flux.
Despite being a party topping the polls, it is a party that comes across as unsure of what it is and where it is going right now.
Like with the fox hunting debate, does it want to be young and progressive or does it want to go back to its base and be more traditional? Either answer is fine, but the party has to pick one.
Similar with the issue of migration over recent years, the party struggled to outline what it’s position was.
Speaking today on a motion on migration, Carthy told attendees that Sinn Féin “did make mistakes in advance local and european elections in terms of how we handled this issue”.
“We needed to be far clearer much sooner about where we stood and much more forceful in calling out the government failures,” he said.
McDonald said she wants the party to be ready for the next general election and she plans to be the leader at that time.
“I want us to peak at the right point,” she told reporters today.
Such a sentence sparks the question: Has the party reached its peak? Has it plateaued?
The answer could define the party’s trajectory in the years ahead, but McDonald will be hoping that the party’s best days are not behind her.
If so, her days will most definitely be numbered.
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