Sinn Féin is set for talks with Independent presidential candidate Catherine Connolly as the party edges closer to making its decision on its participation in this autumn’s race for the Áras.
Speaking in Dún Laoghaire on Monday, where Sinn Féin is meeting ahead of the start of the parliamentary term, Mary Lou McDonald said her party would seek to discuss Ms Connolly’s political record – including a 2018 trip to Syria – and also welcomed comments by Ms Connolly on the importance of preparing for a united Ireland.
Earlier today, Ms McDonald said she would not be running for president, but that the party had yet to decide its strategy – including whether it would run its own candidate or back another.
In Dún Laoghaire, the Sinn Féin leader reiterated her view that the president must place a significant degree of emphasis on the potential for a Border poll and reunification.
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“I was very pleased to hear Catherine Connolly state very clearly that she is a supporter and advocate for Irish reunification, and not in some dim and distant future, but in the here and now.”
Asked if former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams could be the party’s candidate, Ms McDonald said the former TD for Louth had definitively indicated he would not be in the mix “but I’m not going to presume any of that,” she said.
She said Ms Connolly was part of the “active consideration” process the party was giving to its decision.
“As the process comes to this phase, we will be looking to engage with her campaign to discuss matters.”
Ms McDonald said she would not speak on Ms Connolly’s behalf when it came to her undertaking in 2018 to support former journalist Gemma O’Doherty’s putative presidential bid – even after Ms O’Doherty had queried the use of vaccines.
She did, however, confirm that this and other issues regarding Ms Connolly’s political record would form part of the conversation with her campaign and with the candidate when it took place – including her previous trip to Syria, where she met a supporter of the Assad regime. Ms Connolly has since said she didn’t support the regime in any way and that it was a mistake to meet the supporter, Fares Al-Shehab.
Ms McDonald indicated that the matter of whether former MEPs Clare Daly and Mick Wallace were to play a part in Ms Connolly’s campaign was a matter for the Galway West TD and her team.
With Sinn Féin not set to confirm its decision for almost two weeks – well after the other large and smaller parties – Ms McDonald insisted that her party was not leaving the decision too late.
“We have plenty of time,” she said. “This campaign officially starts on the September 24th, and that will give almost five weeks of campaigning for each of the candidates to be scrutinised and evaluated.”
Speaking on RTÉ Radio earlier about her decision not to run, Ms McDonald said she had to “lead from the front” in holding the current Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael Coalition to account.
“I have a real sense of the importance of this time in Irish political and indeed in Irish historical life,” Ms McDonald said.
“I believe that whoever is the Uachtarán following the election will likely be the Uachtarán in office as we move into referendums and Irish reunification and all of the politics and the interaction that needs to happen around that, and I think the Uachtarán will play a very, very important role at a time of huge opportunity and transition in Irish life and for that reason I’ve considered very carefully what we as a party do, but also what I do myself personally.”
She said the party had tested “every proposition” in relation to a candidate.
She would not be drawn on who that candidate would be, but refused to rule out Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill.
“My preference is that we call this right and, at the risk of sounding repetitive, we have options, but I’m clarifying today that my name is no longer in the mix,” she said.
Ms McDonald said her party would make a decision on September 20th.
“I believe we have the winning of this thing,” she said.
Asked who “we” was, she responded that it included Sinn Féin and parties who were “not Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil”.
The Dublin Central TD said there will be no explicit instruction to Sinn Féin councillors when it comes to votes on local authorities for those seeking to get on the ballot paper via the support of four such bodies. “We’re not issuing an instruction, there isn’t a whip being imposed,” she said – but reminded councillors that they were also part of a “collective enterprise” in being part of Sinn Féin and said they were “sensible” people.
Asked if she felt pressure to deliver a strong result for Sinn Féin as she faces into her eighth year as its leader in 2026, without a decisive electoral victory to date, Ms McDonald said there was “always pressure” on anyone leading a team.
“Believe you me, nobody will ever put more pressure on me than I put on myself,” she said. “We are always going to challenge ourselves to do better. I’m disappointed that we didn’t make government last November,” she said. Ms McDonald added she was “absolutely determined and convinced we can make it next time”, and said she felt an obligation to lead from the front.
