*Clare TD, Donna McGettigan & Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald (SF) with The Clare Echo’s Páraic McMahon. Photograph: Joe Buckley
MARY LOU MCDONALD (SF) believes she is still the person to lead Sinn Féin into Government and says her recent praise of a senior IRA figure linked to the killing of a Garda and Defence Forces member would not limit the faith of An Garda Síochána in the party.
During a sit-down interview with The Clare Echo, Sinn Féin’s President McDonald was flanked by first-time TD, Donna McGettigan (SF) in the Shannon Springs Hotel.
Brendan ‘Bik’ McFarlane died last month with Mary Lou among those leading tributes of the commander of the IRA prisoners in the Maze during the 1981 hunger strike.
McFarlane is also believed to have been involved in the 1983 kidnap of supermarket executive Don Tidey, for whom the IRA demanded a ransom of £5m, although the case against him collapsed. Gardaí tracked the kidnappers to Derrada Wood in Co Leitrim, where trainee garda Gary Sheehan and soldier Patrick Kelly were killed in a shoot-out as the four kidnappers escaped and Tidey was freed.
When asked what message her praise of McFarlane sends to members of An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces, McDonald stated, “My respect for the Gardaí and the Defence Forces is very deep, we have a very strong working relationship with members of An Garda Síochána, we’re looking to improve the lot of serving Gardaí, of serving members of the Defence Forces, to ensure they can carry out their public service effectively and safely, I hope at this stage that all of us can recognise the need for people to remember their dead, the conflict is over, it was bitter, there was a huge amount of suffering.
“You mentioned the loss of life of a Garda and a member of the Defence Forces, I’m not going to attempt to defend that for a second, it should not have happened, that was clear at the time and it’s clear now but I think with the passage of time and as people age, and then people die and the world moves on, I actually think it’s a very important thing that people can freely and openly remember, commiserate with and support grieving families, but also to remember the dead. For lots of people, Bik McFarland was a giant of of Irish history, not least because he shared his cell with Bobby Sands so you have all of that history there and when people talk about Bic, that’s what they remember, they also acknowledge his contribution to the peace process and actually bringing the conflict to an end so that’s my intention. I’m a person of goodwill and of great respect for people who give such value in public service, and I think my remarks would be understood and heard in that way”.
She maintained Gardaí and the Defence Forces would feel Sinn Féin had their back despite praising a suspected Garda killer. “I don’t accept that at all. If you talk to members of the Gardaí at a very local level, community Gardaí but also divisional, people of all ranks, you will find and reflect the people here in Clare, Limerick and all across the State we work very closely with the Gardaí, our communities rely on An Garda Síochána for safety, our only crib is that we don’t have enough of them, we don’t have the visibility that we need and that serving members of the Gardaí don’t have the equipment, the support, that I believe is essential for them to carry out their tasks”.
Explaining her decision to promote McGettigan to the party’s front bench as a spokesperson on Further and Higher Education, the fifty five year old said, “Donna has proven herself to not just be tenacious and very resourceful, she is very personally strong, Donna apart from anything political in her life has demonstrated huge personal resilience, huge character, she is a woman of the utmost integrity, a person that I know for quite a long time and I know that she brings with her the kind of spark and energy, but most of all, the kind of persistence that you need to be a really, really effective TD and a very effective member of the front bench. Two first time TDs, Donna McGettigan and Joanna Byrne, who’s elected from County Louth, two formidable women, both of them were, promoted to the first bench just literally as first time TDs and I think it’s important to to mix things up and to bring in new voices, new talent to make sure that you have a geographical blend that you balance your team geographically but also gender matters. It matters that we have enough women in key positions, taking key leadership roles in the team so it was a blend of all of those reasons, and I see all of that in Donna”.
McDonald maintained confidence she is the person to lead Sinn Féin into Government. “Leading from the front and leadership is a funny thing, you know, when things are going your way, you know, surfing the wave is fairly straight fairly straightforward, that’s not the challenging bit for anybody in leadership, where you’re tested is where things go a little bit pear shaped on you where things don’t go to plan, that’s when you’re really tested to show up as the leader and I like to think that I do that I’m a person with them, I’ve got great staying powe, I’m stubborn, I suppose, in many ways and I believe in what we’re doing, and I believe in our team. I believe in economic prosperity. I believe in social justice. I think we can live in an equal Ireland. I also believe that we can live in a united Ireland, that’s my dream. That’s why I do this. But that’s the passion and the belief of our wider team. So, yes, I am the leader of the party. I don’t, see that changing for a while.
“But of course, I’m always in the hands of our members because we I get elected at the Ard Fhéis democratically but I’m enjoying the work and having had now a couple of months, actually, it’s four months nearly since the election so time to kind of reflect, to regroup, to just gather myself again. I’m game on for it. I wish the government were similarly. Do you know we only have eleven sitting days between now and Easter? Not one piece of legislation has gone through the Dáil. We’ve no committees established and all of this, the place has been literally turned upside down to appease and satisfy one man, and that one man is Michael Lowry. You could not make this up. It’s absolutely astonishing. And I don’t know what is going on, but Micheál Martin has allowed this, and Simon Harris, but mainly Micheál Martin has allowed this to unfold in the way that it has”.
She was critical of the US military’s use of Shannon Airport but believed it had a huge role to play in economic development of the region. “Illegal renditions are a breach of international law and there have to be inspections. Like, I mean, we are not at loggerheads with The United States. We are friends in in some respects with the we have the deepest bonds, of friendship but Shannon Airport can’t be used or misused for the movement of weapons or for other, matters that are in breach of international law. The Irish state has to satisfy itself that the rules are being, applied.
“I think in terms of the wider issue of Shannon itself, the airport, this as a hub for regional development, it will be no surprise to anyone any anyone who follows you, and who lives in this region that we need to do much, much better in terms of balanced investment. And I know the region has done well, but I think the Mid-West can do a whole lot better and the airport infrastructure is part and parcel of all of that. You have a natural, you know, entrance point, a very strict it’s a very, very strategic location. What need to do collectively is figure out how we leverage that to best effect so all of the structural bits need to work, are the housing needs, for the region, the educational potential for the region. The University of Limerick is enough I’m going to cite that as an obvious example, but there are others but also the public service provision in the region needs to be up to scratch, and I remain deeply concerned about the hospital, about UHL. Still, they sent in a task force months and months ago, we were told this was going to get sorted out. It hasn’t been sorted out. And for the last number of years, time and again, I mean, I have raised the issue of overcrowding, the trolley count safety concerns at the hospital. Maurice Quinlivan has raised it again. Donna, you’ve been on your feet as a as a new TD raising it, we can’t just continue keep doing that and it’s clear that we need, we need additional capacity. I think it’s game set and match in terms of a second not just A&E, but a second hospital facility, in the region so all of these things are interlinked, and we need to get it all right”.
