‘Step change’ for Sinn Féin as Lowry seals deal

As a new coalition government was being formed in Dublin without her party, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has said she should not be underestimated, and promised to enter government after the next general election.

Following drawn-out discussions between the two civil war era parties and a group of nine independents, headed by notorious former Fine Gael Minister and fraudster Michael Lowry, including the Kerry-based Healy-Rae brothers, a programme for government was launched on Wednesday.

It went ahead despite the news that a police file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions arising from criminal investigations into the report of a tribunal, 27 years after it was set up, which accused the ‘Kingmaker’ Lowry of large-scale corruption.

However, it may have influenced a decision to omit Lowry (pictured, right) from a total of five junior ministerial posts distributed to the independents as part of the deal.

Sinn Féin has not yet commented on the proposed new government, but Ms McDonald said the Moriarty tribunal findings made against Lowry were “very clear” and “absolutely damning”.

“At what point did Micheál Martin in particular decide that it was actually a good idea to form a government with Michael Lowry?” she asked.

Under the deal, Martin (centre), the Fianna Fáil leader and outgoing Tánaiste, is set to be Taoiseach until the end of 2027, while the current Taoiseach Simon Harris (left) becomes Tánaiste before taking over the top post for the final two years. The deal is yet to be ratified by the two major parties, but that should be a formality.

Despite a disappointing Irish general election in November, Ms McDonald said she still plans to lead her party into government after the next general election, which she suggested could last less than the five year term.

She said she was “only getting started” and that she was driven by the young people “in huge numbers” who told her they were “not getting a fair chance”, and by carers and mothers and people with disabilities who were “frustrated” and struggling to access basic services,

“I am an Irish mammy and we should never ever be underestimated to stick the going, especially when the going gets a bit sticky and a bit tough,” Ms McDonald told reporters in Belfast.

She added: “For us in Sinn Féin, it is still very much game on.

“We are a formidable, strong political force nationally, all across the island. We’re not in government on this occasion, I wish it were different, but that’s as it is now.

“But we will continue to work, we will continue to grow, we will continue to advance, and we will have our moment, and we will have our opportunity for government.

“I’m only a young one. You need to go and read my biography again. Sure, I’m only getting started.

“I’m only getting into my groove. So this is about developing Sinn Féin’s politics, about growing our party.”

Ms McDonald has also vowed a “complete overhaul” of the party’s governance procedures following a series of ill-timed internal scandals and disputes last year.

“The work is very considerably advanced,” the Sinn Féin leader said.

“It has involved a very comprehensive review of our human resources procedures, practices and our handbook; a review of safeguarding policy; and an overall review of corporate governance.

She stressed it was “not just a matter of just receiving a report”.

“There will be actions arising from that whole process – it’s been a very thorough, very exhaustive and actually a very useful process,” she said, without revealing details.

Asked what it would do differently, Ms McDonald admitted the party faced a challenge.

“Our first job, constructively, but also very vigorously as the leaders of the opposition, is to hold the Government to account, but also to try and force a change in policy and a change in direction,” she said.

“In doing that I think there will have to be an increased sense of cohesion, of collaboration between parties on the opposition benches.

“And just remember, we are all very different political parties. We are not all the same.

“We shouldn’t try to create that impression, but it is important on the key issues, housing in particular, I think it is in everybody’s interest that we have a shared sense of purpose and that we act cohesively.

“And in the general election, people ask the question, well, if it’s not Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, if it’s not the same old same, what does an alternative government look like in real terms?

“And I think we have an opportunity now, in the coming months and over the next period, to start actually presenting that in a more coherent way.

“So is that a challenge? It will be challenging, but I think it’s also an opportunity, and it will mark, I think, a difference or a step change from the last Dáil.”

Urgent Appeal