MARY LOU MCDONALD has said there are “multiple people” capable of leading Sinn Féin as she rules out a presidential bid next year. 

Speaking to The Journal in a wide-ranging interview, the Sinn Féin leader said: 

“As regards the presidential election, I have given no thought really at all to who or what, or who the runners and riders might be. I’ll tell you this much though, whoever fills the shoes of Michael D [Higgins]. There’s big shoes to fill there.”

When asked if she might be interested in filling them, she replied:

“No, no. I’m in my own boots. No, no, that’s not on my horizon.”

When put to her that her name has been speculated upon in political circles, she replied: “oh, I know.”

The Sinn Féin leader said the party is currently reflecting on the general election result, stating that it is customary for the party to carry out a review after each election as to what went right and what went wrong. 

The party has taken 39 seats in the next Dáil, which McDonald said is a “big result” for the party.

But she acknowledges that it is not where the party would have wanted to be.

“Reflecting on it, we were in very challenging circumstances in the run into the election. So I think a lot of people thought that we were going to suffer losses, that we were going to have a really bad campaign.

“That didn’t happen. I mean, we gathered ourselves. I think we ran a very good, very positive campaign. I certainly enjoyed it,” she said.

However, she added:

“We fell short. I want us to be in government, like that hasn’t changed at all, at all. It’s just now clear that it’s going to take a bit more time than we had hoped.”

Is she the leader to get them there though?

It is no secret that McDonald and her leadership has come under pressure in recent months. The party faced down a series of controversies just weeks out from the election, with the party also plummeting in the polls in recent months.  

The pressure on McDonald has led to a question mark over her future leadership of the party, despite the Sinn Féin leader stating that she plans to stick around for another five years as leader. 

Mary Lou McDonald with TD Pearse Doherty on the first day of the new Dáil this week. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Not threatened

Asked about leadership ambitions within her own party, she told The Journal she doesn’t see such ambitions as a threat.

“I can see multiple people who, one day, would be more than capable of leading this party. Absolutely. That’s the way it should be,” she said. 

McDonald said one of the key pieces of being a leader is that you should always look for excellence.

“I mean, ideally, you should surround yourself with people who are better than you. Like you want your best performers. You want people who want to make progress, you want people who want to get on and I would never regard that as a threat. I’m actually really, really comfortable with that,” McDonald said.

The party leader said she would be “more worried” if she was surrounded by people who didn’t care or were mediocre.

Of course, “at some point”, there will be a change in party leadership, she acknowledged, telling The Journal:

Nobody’s going to be in a job forever.

“So of course, you have to keep an eye. If you look at our benches now, we have lots of younger TDs that have come in. That really, really matters,” said McDonald, adding that it is “not just the leader, it’s the whole team” that counts.

“You have to always be looking to the next opportunity, the next general election, making room for people, making room for women,” she added. 

Hitting out at Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael joining forces again to form the next government, McDonald is particularly critical of the two larger parties speaking to Independent TD Michael Lowry. 

Given that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael is relying on Independent TDs to prop up the next government, McDonald is skeptical as to whether the next government will last the full term. 

“I’ve said this to our parliamentary party, don’t now think you’re going to go off and snooze and that it’s going to be five years. It might be. It also might not be five years. Because this is politics. This is about events,” McDonald said.