Sinn Féin’s support for the now-comprehensively defeated Family and Care referendums earlier this year was a “mistake”, party leader Mary Lou McDonald has admitted.
Controversially, in the run-up to the March referendums (which were ultimately defeated to the tune of 67.7% and 73.9% respectively), McDonald had previously pledged to re-run the votes again with modified wording if the amendments were defeated. This suggestion led to significant backlash at the time.
“DID WE MAKE MISTAKES…? YES, WE DID”
Speaking to reporters outside Government Buildings in Dublin today, McDonald said that the party had never claimed to be “perfect”.
“Did we, at times, make mistakes along the way?” she asked.
“Yes, we did, and we got called out on that, as you know, by our working-class base, and that’s fair enough.”
Asked what specific mistakes she was referring to, McDonald replied: “It’s clear, and we have spoken to our communities about this, that the issue around the referendum – hands up.”
“I REPRESENT WORKING-CLASS DISTRICTS MYSELF”
The comments were made in response to a question by Gript Media, wherein McDonald was asked to give her message to disaffected Sinn Féin voters, particularly from working class backgrounds, who felt they had been let down by the party on issues like immigration, hate speech laws, “wokeness” and more.
McDonald replied by discussing the party’s housing ambitions, as well as its desire to stop people from feeling the need to emigrate for opportunities.
“I’ve spoken to lots and lots of voters – you know I represent working-class districts myself,” McDonald said.
“I have said repeatedly to people that we have sought to bring clarity in respect of all of the issues of concern.
“GIVE US A CHANCE”
“I’ve also said and have to repeat very directly to people: if you’re in housing distress—in other words if you are homeless or you’re living in overcrowded conditions, or you think that actually you’re not going to have a chance here and you’re considering going to Perth or Toronto or wherever it might be—I humbly say to you that your best chance, in fact I believe your only chance, to turn that situation around for you and your family is to give us a chance.”
She also outlined the party’s desire to roll out better disability services and provisions for carers.
“We have a very ambitious program now in respect of disability services provision, the rights of people with disabilities and carers,” she said.
“One of our key proposals is the removal of the means test for the carer’s allowance.”
“IN OUR CASE, LESSONS WERE LEARNED”
Concluding, she said that the party has learned lessons from some of the challenges faced in recent months.
“I would say to those people, you know the old cliché is ‘lessons will be learned’—well, in our case lessons were learned,” she said.
“We work extremely hard for our communities. Sinn Féin is your option if you want to change the government. That’s the question, and the big issue for working people in communities is: can you afford another five years of Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil government?
“And I would say very strongly, regular people, working-class communities, all communities, and young people simply can’t afford that.”