David Davin-Power: Rivals scrambling to deal with Sinn Féin surge

There was a whiff of desperation about the abuse heaped on Sinn Féin and its economic plan by Simon Coveney and Paschal Donohoe, their denunciations echoing around the City Assembly rooms yesterday morning.

Mary Lou McDonald will “go wild with the State’s credit card” and the voter will end up paying the bill; her plan is a “con job” that will drive business from our shores and threaten jobs; Sinn Féin is allied to the Communist Party in Europe; a coalition involving the party and Fianna Fáil will link the “wreckers and the reckless”.