Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
IF GERRY ADAMS had notions of putting his feet up during retirement, he can think again.
Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald has plans to put her predecessor to work.
In a wide-ranging interview with TheJournal.ie, it was made clear that Adams will still play a role within the party – although she won’t be asking him to run for the job of President of Ireland.
After 35 years as leader of Sinn Féin, Adams finally left the stage last week. In a raucous Ard Fhéis in the RDS, McDonald was formally elected to take the helm.
She has an immediate body of work, not least to address the bullying allegations that have plagued the party in recent months.
But what next for Gerry? Will he have an “ambassadorial” position, as some are suggesting? And, if so, will it be in an official capacity?
McDonald told TheJournal.ie that Adams is still a TD, and will continue to work for his constituents. But she has grander plans for the former party president – ones that could take him overseas.
“I am going to ask him to do different pieces of work. I think the first thing he needs to do is rest, I’ve said that to him,” she said, adding:
He has a huge international profile. They say Gerry is the best-known Irishman – maybe him and Bono are on a par - but he has immense standing internationally. I want to see how to use that. I am sure he has views as to what he might to with that.
“I don’t know how many prime ministers, taoisigh, American presidents [he has dealt with] That is a vast reservoir of experience and we would be very, very foolish not to have that in reserve,” she said.
“Certainly Gerry is very experienced, he is very insightful. I haven’t asked him just yet, as I want him to relax a small bit. And he will have to look to his constituency. Ruairí Ó Murchú (a Sinn Féin councillor in Louth) is the young man who has been selected to run in the next election in Gerry’s place and we have a job to do to hold on to those two seats. So I think Gerry will have to roll up the sleeves and be part of that effort,” she added.
Gerry for president?
With McDonald’s admiration over Adams’ dealings with international powerhouses evident, what about asking him to run for president? Is that on the cards?
“Absolutely not. Absolutely not. I know he has not the remotest interest in that. In fact I think he would freak if somebody lifted the phone and suggested that. That could end our friendship if I even suggested that to him,” she laughed.
Mary Lou McDonald with her predecessor Gerry Adams. Niall Carson
Niall Carson
Despite the effusive praise unleashed for his external diplomatic skills, the party under Adams was dogged by infights and public claims of internal bullying.
So this switch in leadership will have to lead to a change within.
In her maiden speech as leader, McDonald said it was time for Sinn Féin to “modernise” and become “fit for purpose”.
She knows the party has problems, and insists she is going to introduce concrete measures to deal with them.
She said the “dilemmas” that have emerged recently can be put down to the party’s rapid growth.
“It’s been reflected in local disputes, unpleasantness, some people upset, some people leaving the party, some people being asked to leave the party. And I think we have to be honest in saying that we have tried to manage and organise a growing party, and now a large party, in the same way that we managed and organised a small party, and that doesn’t work. So we have issues there.”
It has been a focus point for rival deputies in the past number of months, providing an easy deflection in a difficult debate. To remove that threat, McDonald has to eradicate all perceptions that the party doesn’t take bullying seriously. She says she is doing this but will there be a zero tolerance approach?
Party reform
“Everyone needs to know there are rules, there are standards, there is a charter of ethics and we didn’t write and produce them just for the craic, they actually mean something, and if they are breached, we have to deal with that,” said the Rathgar native.
The Sinn Féin Ard Fheis last weekend in the RDS in Dublin. Niall Carson
Niall Carson
“The one thing, and I have made this very clear to colleagues, is that I am a great believer in sorting things out informally and in a friendly way. I am quite a relaxed person in that way. When that doesn’t work, you apply the rules, and I can be a bit of a stickler in that regard as well.
McDonald says she knows what immediate reforms are needed – and that there is an appetite for same among her members.
We have 250 to 260 councillors… a huge number. They are the frontline of your politics. I am very conscious that they can be a little bit out on a limb so I have put in train a consultation and an intervention with our councillors to establish better channels of communication, supports, training so that you don’t feel that they are out on a limb…
McDonald also plans to establish a commission on equality and inclusion in the party.
“I am going to structure it like a commission… We are going to go out and have a conversation with our grassroots – not about our politics, but actually about the party and the dynamics of inclusion, the culture and all of those things.”
This type of exercise is commonplace in other organisations that have seen rapid expansion, and she said Sinn Féin can learn from it.
Advertisement
“We need to modernise, we need to get with it, we need to borrow from best practice outside of politics and I am very confident that we will do it,” she said.
Going into government
It’s a means to an end. McDonald began to shift the talk about her party going into government long before she became leader – being the first to suggest it should consider discontinuing the view that it should only enter a coalition as the larger party.
“I am going to fight for every vote, every seat we can get and I will talk to everybody. I think that is the right thing to do,” she says now.
Even ‘smarmy’ guys?
“Can I work with a ‘smarmy’ guy?” she returns our question, referring to an interview she gave earlier this week.
“I mean can he work with a ‘cranky’ woman – these are all the questions of our time,” she jokes, referencing a comment made about her by Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in the Dáil.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Mary Lou McDonald Niall Carson
Niall Carson
The only problem is, both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have categorically ruled out talking to Sinn Féin about possible government formation.
The new leader said political parties should “wind their necks in” and let the electorate choose, but McDonald said there is one thing for certain – she plans to win big.
Realistically, though, Sinn Féin’s only chance of being in government in the near future is as a minority party. Would she be concerned about that?
“Yes of course. It is dangerous and problematic and there would be a lot of nervousness within our party around that. Of course you would be stupid, you’d be absolutely foolish not to take account of that. You have to ask yourself the question about the other casualties (Labour for instance).
“Was the damage done by going into government or was the damage done by what was done or not done in government – that’s the question.”
McDonald said there is no obvious party that Sinn Féin could enter into coalition with.
Fianna Fáil are a problem, Fine Gael are a problem – it is all problematic. We may have a new politics or configuration emerge, I would very much like that to happen, but rather than get hung up on ‘the who’, our focus is: what would a government do, what could Sinn Féin deliver? I would still prefer a progressive alliance. That would naturally give us more scope, and would naturally give us more clout.
In the run up to the last election, Sinn Féin signed up to a vote pact made up of left-wing parties and independents, but the possibility of an alternative left government has withered away. Ahead of last year’s Budget, Solidarity-PBP said Sinn Féin was moving more to the right – a clear indication that it is not interested in doing business.
But McDonald said she thinks an alternative left could still be a possibility. Extending an olive branch, she said:
“During the last election we had the discussion around the alternative and at that point we had the Right to Water movement and Right to Change… and it looked like the maths would be possible.
Coming into the next election, that might also be the case. I think that would be very good for Irish politics.
“We have a political message and political team that is relevant and can resonate, not just with our core base, but with what is called ‘the middle class’ or the ‘coping classes’.”
Personalities in politics
“When it comes to government formation, it is about the big ticket items and it is about the big ideas, rather than the personality, the personality thing wouldn’t enter into my head for a second,” she said.
Her own persona – within the party and outside it – will be under intense scrutiny, however, in the coming months as she settles into the top job, not least because of the continuing impasse in Stormont.
McDonald wants people to look at her performance over six months or over a year, and then judge.
In the coming weeks, she will carry out duties we associate with Adams – and one of the first is heading to the US for St Patrick’s Day.
Often seen as a big fundraising drive for the party with their Irish-American base, there’s a busy itinerary for McDonald: meeting the diaspora, events with Irish-American trade union groups and handshaking with politicos, as well as a women’s leadership conference.
Adams was a regular guest at the White House, though she recalls the one year he was refused entry when we ask of her plans with the Trump administration.
“Whether or not I will be in the White House, I don’t know.
“We waited and waited. We met everybody on the way in, I was saying, ‘Hello congressman, hello senator.’ It was nearly finished, so Gerry said, ‘For the love of God, just go.’ I said: ‘Are you sure?’ He said yes. I walked off and I had literally taken three steps away and I heard him whisper: ‘Traitor.’ I didn’t live that one down, I was the deserter, I left him to fend for himself,” she laughs.
“Anything that is to be done for the Uachtarain Sinn Féin, for the leader of Sinn Féin – that’s me now, not him, so he’s out of all that,” she said.
“He’ll be waiting outside the gates of the White House again so?” we ask.
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
103 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Far too many ‘maybe’s’ and ‘possible’ talk here, we’ve heard it all before.
We need representatives with a bit of backbone and genuine concern for Ireland and its people, until we have this we will be continually screwed by the banking and business elites across Europe.
Definitely – we should start making ultimatums (ultimata?) that if we don’t immediately get sorted we’re going to……., well I don’t know what we’re going to do but something pretty damn serious, thats for sure.
as long as the bankers and the god like markets and bondholders are all paid off and happy the ordinary mortal can wait to be helped………..same excuses from these lot!
Agree with the too many maybe’s and if’s…in the meantime we’re being hammered into the finncial stone age. This macks once again of Ireland’s small and insignificant voice at the European table…if this was France or Germany there’d be fk all maybe’s and they’d be climbing their own arses to get t resolved. It demonstrates how utterly ineffective our crowd are in Europe and continue to wait to be served while we suffer on and on..
Trichet is just another puppet carrying out orders. I find it hard to believe,We (Irish) haven’t copped on to this stageshow being played out via controlled media. seriously, We now need to wakes-up.
Six-year-old girl who was cycling her bike dies in incident involving a truck in Galway city
1 hr ago
20.7k
Parenting
A dad's perspective: I watched Adolescence with my teenage son... here's what I learned
1 hr ago
4.0k
40
Whatsdat
An AI chatbot has appeared on Irish users' WhatsApp - here's what you need to know
14 hrs ago
54.5k
39
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 164 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 111 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 146 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 116 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 85 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 85 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 39 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 35 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 136 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 61 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 76 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 84 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 37 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 47 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 27 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 93 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 100 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 73 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 55 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 91 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 69 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say