Tag Archives: Mary Lou McDonald

LATE November and December is the peak book-selling time, and the author of a new major Irish political biography was in Ennis last week. Former TD Shane Ross came to town to sign copies of Mary Lou McDonald – A Republican Riddle, which grapples with an intriguing but often unasked question: how did a private school and Trinity College-educated South Dublin woman become leader of Sinn Féin of all parties? There are other questions, such as why Mary Lou wasn’t active at all in politics until her late twenties? Even when she joined a party it was Fianna Fáil; where was her commitment to republicanism? And, perhaps most worryingly in many people’s eyes, to what extent is she really the leader or are ‘shadowy figures’ in West Belfast in control of the party that won most first preference votes in the last General Election? Of particular Clare interest is the experience of Violet Anne Wynne, who Ross spoke to in …

SINN Féin will set out its stall as to what dairy farmers can expect from any future government involving the party, when its leader addresses ICMSA members in Limerick next week.  On December 5 at the Castletroy Park Hotel in Limerick, Deputy Mary Lou McDonald will become the first Sinn Féin leader to address a major farmer meeting and ICMSA officials say that her take on the future of Ireland’s biggest indigenous economic activity will be eagerly anticipated. The Agriculture Minister, Charlie McConalogue will be in attendance too to address farmers’ concerns over forthcoming regulatory changes for the sector.  Farmers, including the many from Clare who are likely to travel to the event, will also hear from Assistant Garda Commissioner, Paula Hillman. She will address the increasingly fraught issue of gangs of trespassing ‘hunters’ intimidating, threatening and even assaulting farmers in their own yards or fields. ICMSA has been to the forefront in demanding a much more effective and practical …