Mary Lou McDonald leadership confirmed: A real leader or just a new mouthpiece?

Conventional wisdom, that imperfect, inconsistent gauge of our thoughts, suggests voters can be divided into three categories: Those who vote for Sinn Féin, those who might, and those who, no matter what, would never vote for the party.

Conventional wisdom, that imperfect, inconsistent gauge of our thoughts, suggests voters can be divided into three categories: Those who vote for Sinn Féin, those who might, and those who, no matter what, would never vote for the party.

The same happyish-as-we-are principle applies to other parties but is not absolute. Fine Gael occasionally borrow Fianna Fáil voters and vice versa. Sinn Féin is the Marmite party, you either do or you don’t and, so far, never the twain shall meet. Whether the weekend coronation of Mary Lou McDonald as Sinn Féin’s next leader changes that dynamic only time can tell.