Mary Lou McDonald
 Mary Lou McDonald    (politician) | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 1 May 1969 |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Alma mater | Trinity College (Dublin) |
Mary Louise McDonald is an Irish Sinn Féin politician serving as Leader of Sinn Féin since February 2018 and Teachta Dála (TD) for Dublin Central since the 2011 Irish General Election. She previously served as Deputy Leader of Sinn Féin from 2009 to 2018 and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Dublin from 2004 to 2009.[1]
On 10 February 2018, Mary Lou McDonald succeeded longtime party leader Gerry Adams after a special ardfheis (party conference) in Dublin.[2]
Irish reunification
On 31 July 2019, Mary Lou McDonald met the new British PM Boris Johnson who was visiting Northern Ireland. Speaking to the media after the meeting, Mary Lou McDonald said talks had not given her any great hope Johnson would act in the "common good". The Sinn Féin President said his actions indicated he would lead the UK towards a "disorderly or a crash Brexit" which would be "catastrophic for the Irish economy":
- "We have stated to him very clearly that Brexit in any event, but certainly a disorderly Brexit, represents in anybody’s language a dramatic change of circumstances on this island and that it would be unthinkable in those circumstances that people would not be given the opportunity to decide on our future together.
- "Finally we have told him that any notion that he might crash this part of Ireland out of the European Union and cause the level of jeopardy and damage that that would entail and that people will simply take it on the chin or that he would expect that people would meekly go along with that is deeply, deeply misguided and that that would be a very dangerous course of political action."[3]
Party activity
Mary Lou McDonald has been a member of the Sinn Féin party leadership since 2001,[4] and became the party's Vice President, replacing Pat Doherty following the Sinn Féin ardfheis of 22 February 2009.
Following McDonald's election to the Dáil in 2011 she became Sinn Féin’s Spokesperson for Public Expenditure and Reform. After her re-election to the Dáil in 2016 she became Sinn Féin’s All-Ireland Spokesperson for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, which she held until being elected leader of Sinn Féin in 2018.[5]
At the party conference on 18 November 2017, Gerry Adams was re-elected party leader, but announced that he would ask the Sinn Féin party leadership to call for a special ardfheis to be held within three months to choose a new president, and that he would not stand for re-election as TD for Louth constituency in the next election.[6]
At the close of nominations to succeed Adams as party leader on 20 January 2018, McDonald was announced as the President-elect of Sinn Féin, as she was the sole nominee to enter the race. She was confirmed as party leader at a special ardfheis on 10 February in Dublin.
Controversies
In January 2019, Mary Lou McDonald was criticised for her party sending two delegates to the inauguration of Nicolás Maduro, despite his election being denounced as fraudulent by Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Canada and the United States,[7][8] as well as organisations such as the European Union. She stated:
- "We believe the Venezuelan election was open and democratic. It's for the people of Venezuela and them alone to decide who their president is."[9]
In March 2019, McDonald was criticised by some, including Fine Gael politician and incumbent Tánaiste Simon Coveney, for walking behind a banner in the New York St Patrick’s day parade which read “England Get Out of Ireland”.[10]
References
- ↑ "Mary Lou McDonald"
- ↑ "Mary Lou McDonald confirmed as new leader of Sinn Féin"
- ↑ "No-deal Brexit must include Irish reunification vote, Boris Johnson told"
- ↑ http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/28111/Mary%20Lou_McDONALD.html
- ↑ "Mental health service failing those at risk of suicide – McDonald". Sinn Féin (official website). Published 21 July 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
- ↑ https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/gerry-adams-to-step-down-as-sinn-fein-leader-in-2018-36332662.html
- ↑ https://www.lapatilla.com/site/2018/01/25/colombia-desconocera-resultado-de-elecciones-en-venezuela-dice-santos/
- ↑ https://edition.cnn.com/2018/05/20/americas/venezuela-elections/index.html quote=An alliance of 14 Latin American nations and Canada, known as the Lima Group, released a statement Monday calling the vote illegitimate ... The alliance includes Argentina, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Panama, Paraguay, St. Lucia, Guyana, Peru, Honduras, Guatemala and Costa Rica.
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20190112190012/https://www.rte.ie/news/brexit/2019/0112/1022787-brexit/
- ↑ https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2019/0317/1036976-sinn-fein/
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