Alison O’Connor: There’s reason to admire Mary Lou and to mistrust Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has found her mojo. But even she, in private, must be surprised at how well her party appears to be doing in this general election campaign, writes Alison O’Connor

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has found her mojo. But even she, in private, must be surprised at how well her party appears to be doing in this general election campaign.

After Sinn Féin’s poor local election results last year, Mary Lou was in a spot of bother. Under her leadership, Sinn Féin had dropped to 81 council seats, from 159, and had lost two MEPs. (One of those former MEPs, Liadh Ní Ríada, had polled only 6% in the presidential election of 2018.) There was a lot of bad mood music around Sinn Fein and Brexit and empty seats in Westminster, as well as a non-functioning Stormont.