Not so long ago Mary Lou McDonald looked set to be Taoiseach, but for the moment her job is to help restore Sinn Féin to a position where it can conceivably lead a Government, following a disappointing 2024 election.
She came to Shannon last week where she addressed students at St Patrick’s Comprehensive, before visiting Obair in Newmarket, accompanied on the day by Clare TD Donna McGettigan.
In Clare one issue that has always been high on the agenda for many years is the dire state of local hospital services.
When asked about Sinn Féin’s vision, she said that at the moment in opposition it is looking to keep the Government’s focus on the issue.
“At this point in time, given that we are leading the opposition, one of the most important things that we do regularly is to keep raising the issue of UHL, it has not gone off our agenda,” she said.
“We need to put the Government and the new Minister for Health under maximum pressure to deliver the things they have promised.
“They have promised the hospital, the staff, patients, this entire region, that they will find a solution for the trolley count, the overcrowding and the lack of patient safety.
“To put it bluntly, what is missing is a real sense of political urgency, pace and attention.”
And what would her party do?
“I think that there needs to be additional capacity in the region, that has been politically confirmed now, and they need to crack on,” she said.
“Whether it’s the reopening of Ennis, the reopening of another facility, whatever way the capacity is found, it has to be found and it has to be found quickly. That means investment in more beds, in more staff, they have to have a proper workforce plan.
“I know people are frustrated, I share that frustration, for a number of years now we have been raising again and again and again that UHL is in the worst position of all the hospitals across the State.
“What we have got from the Government is lip service, tea and sympathy, and the time for that is now over. It’s about energy, it’s about pace and it’s about delivery.
“We are not in Government, I wish David Cullinane was the Minister for Health and I would have a direct hand in sorting this out, but as a strong opposition we will keep the Government under pressure and we want delivery, we don’t want more reports gathering dust on shelves. This needs to happen now, urgently.”
At the event in Shannon, one secondary school student raised the dire housing situation, and the implications that has for young people.
When speaking to The Clare Champion, Ms McDonald said the Government has failed the upcoming generation on the issue.
“You may have noticed that during the election campaign I put a particular emphasis on our young people and I’m going to continue to do that,” she said.
“It is unacceptable that in Ireland in 2025 that our young people don’t believe they can have a future here for themselves, to work, to build their families and to contribute to our society.
“Of course people are going to travel, that’s a healthy thing, but what I believe we can’t tolerate is a situation where either our young people are forced out or when they leave they don’t see a pathway for themselves to come back home.
“That’s just unacceptable. A lot of hinges around us sorting out housing and the Government was caught out after the election having given inaccurate, incorrect figures in terms of housing completion. They’re ducking and diving on that, and that’s not good enough.”
She claimed that Sinn Féin does have an effective plan.
“We have published an extensive five year plan explaining in detail how you up capacity and output, how at the same time you control rent and make sure that people aren’t getting fleeced by big corporate landlords.”
Ms McDonald said that issues around planning and labour are “not insurmountable”, but she said major changes are required.
“We have to revolutionise the system from start to finish, all through from planning to procurement, at each stage, and we have detailed proposals to make it more efficient and quicker and to make sure that at every turn you are building in affordability,” she said.
“We need greater supply, but that supply has to be affordable for it to be sustainable for families.”
When she was in Clare, EU plans to invest €800 billion on defence were in the news, and she was critical of the plan.
“Almost a trillion euro for weapons at an EU level, that’s an arms race writ large across Europe and that’s not a good thing,” she said.
But surely the investment is not provocative, but rather reactive, given the barbaric Russia invasion of a European democracy, and a range of further interferences, as it tries to undermine the EU and western unity?
“Yeah, Putin has acted outside of international law. But if we say that we have to defend the international order and international law, the international community has to be consistent about that,2 she said.
“They let Putin away with it in Syria, they looked the other way when Putin was on other adventures.
“They looked the other way when Israel has repeatedly and flagrantly broken international law, the international community has sang dumb.
“I believe in international law and the stability that affords in the international order. But we should insist on consistency and compliance, that you have to be consistent and have to look for compliance from everybody. Putin, yes, but not just Putin. Across the board.”
The Sinn Féin leader said she was not opposed to greater investment in Irish defence, but that she is very strongly opposed to ending Irish neutrality.
“We have to be able to surveil our sky and our seas, there was a time we can do it, we can’t know,” she said.
“The same parties that are now arguing for this €800 billion of investment in weapons are the same people who presided over that going to rack and ruin.
“Of course we need to sort it out, I’m not making an argument about investing in our defence forces.
“But I want it sorted out so we can defend and maintain our very important position of military neutrality.
“I don’t want that defence spending to be used as a ruse to dismantle our neutrality. I want us to make those investments so that we consolidate our position as a neutral country, and all that can bring for us in the world of diplomacy and international affairs, to be interlocutors, to be a third string to the box. You can only bring that capacity when you are non-aligned. The moment you are aligned to any military alliance you forfeit that.”
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.