Opinion

Brian Feeney: Ruthless Mary Lou McDonald shows nothing will stand in the way of Sinn Féin's objectives

Brian Feeney

Brian Feeney

Historian and political commentator Brian Feeney has been a columnist with The Irish News for three decades. He is a former SDLP councillor in Belfast and co-author of the award-winning book Lost Lives

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald. Picture by Niall Carson, Press Association
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald. Picture by Niall Carson, Press Association Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald. Picture by Niall Carson, Press Association

The terms of trade in politics in Ireland have changed, but in the north people haven’t caught on.

That’s especially true of Sinn Féin’s political opponents and the media. Last week was a classic example. After the revelations about Sinn Féin’s failure to repay Small Business Grants the political and media pack were in full cry after SF.

They assumed that, as in the past, Sinn Féin would sing dumb and hunker down until the pack ran out of steam, but in the meantime they would have great fun charging all over the place self-righteously ‘looking for answers’. BBC news led with the story for days. BBC reporters stood outside SF offices shuttered because of Covid restrictions solemnly intoning that there were “questions to be answered”. After all, the BBC had set the pack running so it was important to keep on the trail.

Then suddenly Mary Lou McDonald stepped out and shot their fox. The hunt was over, though neither the avid political opponents nor the BBC could accept it. Mary Lou McDonald’s quick, harsh, decisive action was unique in modern Irish politics. It cost the party a seat in the Seanad, two people their political careers, and two others their positions in the party. Along with booting out four individuals who embarrassed the party and whose actions couldn’t be defended, McDonald also issued a full apology.

Can you remember any other party leader taking such action? On the contrary, in the north in particular party leaders have protected culprits who have fallen short of standards. You can’t say ‘accepted standards’ for there aren’t any in the north. Did any party member condemn Ian Óg for his antics in Sri Lanka, or following his £1,300 fine by the Electoral Commission for breaking rules about party fund raising? Did his party leader do anything? Not a bit of it. You could fill pages with questionable DUP practices without even mentioning Red Sky, RHI, the emails, the leaks, the cronyism.

Sinn Féin has moved onto a different level. Here’s what McDonald’s actions indicate. They demonstrate an absolutely steely determination to become the dominant party in the south and lead the next government. The party, lest it be forgotten, won the biggest vote in the state in February and have the same number of seats as Fianna Fáil when the Ceann Comhairle was elected. They are the largest party in Ireland and the richest. They are ahead in the polls, and after Leo the Leak’s debacle with GP medical contracts and Fianna Fáil’s shameless efforts to cover his backside will be even further ahead.

McDonald’s ruthless no-nonsense dismissal of public representatives and party officials is an unmistakable signal that no suspicion will be tolerated and that nothing will stand in the way of SF’s political objective. The party is going to be squeaky clean. It is also telling evidence of the powerful position McDonald enjoys as party leader; there was not a cheep of dissent about her resolute decisions.

Compare that with the impotent ‘leadership’ of Arlene Foster who wouldn’t dare cheep at any MP or MLA in her party for all her contemptuous swipes at those in other parties. She was even prepared to gloss dunderhead Poots’s recent unforgivable behaviour in sectarianising Covid-19 infections. If Foster told an MLA to resign they would just ignore her. Maybe some already have? Who knows? Inside the cultish DUP it’s a secretive world.

Mary Lou McDonald’s actions show that Sinn Féin is a serious player in national politics which is going to grow in importance and nothing or no one is going to get in the way. McDonald has transformed the party’s fortunes in the south bringing forward bright, personable, articulate TDs like Pearse Doherty, Louise O’Reilly and Eoin Ó Broin.

What she needs to do now is replicate that transformation in the north.