MARY LOU MCDONALD has said she assesses her party’s performance after polls are published, telling The Journal: “Everybody looks at the polls, you can hardly miss them, there are so many of them as well.”

In a wide-ranging interview conducted last week, the Sinn Féin leader spoke about immigration issues and the rise of the far-right, along with how her party is faring in the polls. 

At the end of November, there was a fall in support for Sinn Féin in a Business Post Red C opinion poll, showing a three point drop since the month previous.

The party still remained the most popular among likely voters on 29%. 

In early December, another poll, this time by the Sunday Independent, which also showed a three point drop, putting the party at 31% – again, still the most popular party. 

When asked about the narrative that this could be a trend in her party’s poll ratings and if she had asked herself why there has been a fall off, McDonald said: 

“I mean, we assess everything, of course, we always need to assess our performance.”

In her view, she said the polls have been up and “a little bit down, a little bit”, she said.

“But the picture more generally, in the course of the year, has been actual relative stability for all of the parties and the players,” she said. 

“Of course, we want to convince more and more people to support us when the election comes… So what we’re going to do is just work hard. That’s what we’re going to do, listen to people, be as responsive as we can,” she said. 

“Our job is to convince people that change is not only desirable, but that change is necessary and that we as a party can do a good job, and that we can deliver that change in a way that benefits people in a way that puts roofs over people’s heads primarily,” she said.

McDonald said housing remains the number one issue and will be the number one issue when the election comes.

“But there’s no kind of sorcery, or you know, hidden secrets around political support. You just have to keep working. You have to keep working hard at it. And that’s what we’re going to do,” she said. 

Separately, when asked if there has been any discussions internally about recent criticisms of the number of legal cases being taken by Sinn Féin TDs against the media and whether there now a need to have that conversation within the party, McDonald said: 

“Well, no… it’s a matter for individuals on something like that. I mean, every individual person has a right to defend their name, their reputation, and that’s up to and including use of the courts.

“So I couldn’t, wouldn’t and shouldn’t say to any person that they can’t avail of those. I’m not going to do that,” she said, adding that it would be a far better situation if people could resolve any differences before getting to the courts. 

When put to her that it is not a good look for the party to have so many TDs suing the media, she said journalists have their job to do, as do TDs. 

“Where we get into difficulty is where things are said or published that are untrue or damaging or defamatory… if there is a trend or a pattern that has a go or damages publicly elected people. So like, we all have to play to the one rule book,” she said.

The Press Ombudsman Susan McKay recently criticised the taking of such cases against journalists – stating that politicians and those in power should be using her office to deal with such grievances, as that is its purpose. 

When asked why Sinn Féin politicians have not used such mechanisms before filing legal action, she said it would be far better if such disputes never took place. 

“As party leader I would not be saying to anybody not to, in their own best judgment, exercise, their right if it is the case that they feel that their reputation has been damaged and listen, speaking from my own personal point of view, it’s not something that you do lightly.”