Mary Lou: Left-wing parties must work together to replace government

Mary Lou McDonald, leader of Sinn Fein. Photograph Moya Nolan

Left-wing parties have an “obligation to work together” to challenge the “worst government imaginable”, taking inspiration from the coalition that swept Catherine Connolly to the presidency, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has insisted.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Irish Examiner, Ms McDonald admitted she gave “serious consideration” to running for the presidency and said her family has “never been better” following several health scares.

Despite a failure to work together during the 2024 general election, last year saw the parties of the left unite against the Government on a range of issues.

The initial collaboration was part of an effort to prevent Michael Lowry and other regional independents who had negotiated the programme for government from receiving opposition speaking time.

Ms McDonald said that the current coalition of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and independents is the “worst imaginable” and will “always try and shift the blame for their failures”.

She told the Irish Examiner that the left parties will have to continue to work together to force them from office.

“We’re different political parties, so we don’t share the same ground on everything,” she said. 

“How could we? We’re distinct political entities.

“You’ve seen [it] through the speaking rights debacle, through the Catherine Connolly campaign most powerfully. 

"We demonstrated there that we could not alone work together, but we could win together. That’s a really important message.”

Ms Connolly easily won the race to succeed Michael D Higgins by building a broad left-wing political coalition, beating Fine Gael’s candidate Heather Humphreys by a wide margin.

“I would say that it’s almost unprecedented the level of cooperation and collaboration that you have seen. Not only do I think it can last, I think it has to last,” Ms McDonald said.

“I actually think we have an obligation to do it whilst respecting that we are different. We’re not going to agree on everything. We don’t have to.”

Ms McDonald said Sinn Féin made “absolutely the right call” to back Catherine Connolly in the presidential election, saying she was the “right person for the Áras” with the “right politics of now”.

Although she admits that she gave the prospect of contesting the presidential election “very serious” thought, when asked if she believed she would have won, Ms McDonald said: “No, no. Catherine won it”.

The Sinn Féin leader said she has “never been better” following a hysterectomy that saw her take an extended leave of absence from Leinster House in 2023.

Her husband, Martin Lanigan, is also back at work following his colorectal cancer diagnosis the same year.