MARY LOU MCDONALD kicked off her general election campaign tonight, telling those gathered that they can “make history” by choosing a Sinn Féin government.
Speaking to the media ahead of the event in Wynn’s Hotel on Abbey Street, McDonald said in the past, elections have “always boiled down to either Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil, Tweedledum or Twedledee”.
“On this occasion, there now is a live option for a different government, a new government,” McDonald said.
Taoiseach Simon Harris will formally dissolve the Dáil tomorrow, with voters going to the polls on Friday 29 November.
Alongside McDonald tonight was her running mate in Dublin Central, councillor Janice Boylan.
“Our objective in the constituency is to win two seats. Our objective overall is to change the government,” McDonald said, adding that there is “huge appetite for change”.
“And when election day comes, all of the political debate will really crystallise into a very straightforward choice, which is either more of the same, in either a Fine Gael or a Fianna Fáil led government or, for the first time, a government led by Sinn Féin.
“So we are saying to people very directly, you will have a choice.
“Actually, it will be a historic choice,” McDonald said.
The Sinn Féin leader confirmed tonight that her party will run over 70 candidates across the country.
Sinn Féin enters this election after a turbulent few weeks, with two sitting TDs leaving the party.
It has also faced intense criticism over its handling of several controversies focused on how it dealt with a range of allegations and complaints against party members.
In the last 12 months the party has also seen its poll ratings dip quite significantly, dropping from front runner to leave it trailing behind both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil in a series of recent polls.
Despite this, McDonald struck an upbeat tone at tonight’s launch, receiving a standing ovation from supporters.
Speaking to a packed room of party members, McDonald pledged that Sinn Féin will put Irish Unity “at the very centre of our future”.
She also acknowledged the difficult year her family has had personally, with the death of her father, her husband’s cancer diagnosis and her own health issues.
“Community is everything to us in Sinn Féin and so too is family. The last year or so has been a tough one for mine, but we’ve stuck together as families do and we’ve come through it,” McDonald said.
She thanked her husband Martin Lanigan, joking that he hasn’t divorced her “just yet”.
“After almost 30 years, I’m hopeful, in fact, that he might vote for me, or at least give me a high preference,” she joked.
Includes reporting from Cillian Sherlock, PA.
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