SF coy over Finucane as candidatefor presidency
John Finucane MARY Lou Mcdonald yesterday declined to be drawn on suggestions
Belfast lawyer John Finucane could be Sinn Fein’s candidate for the Irish presidency.
The party leader said she had seen the speculation, but when asked for her reaction answered cryptically: “I think John Finucane is wonderful.”
Mr Finucane, son of murdered solicitor Pat Finucane, only emerged as a leading Sinn Fein player last year, when he was unveiled as a surprise general election candidate in the North Belfast constituency.
While he was defeated by the DUP’S Nigel Dodds in that contest, he has maintained a prominent position within the party since.
He formally nominated Mrs Mcdonald as new party president at a special conference earlier this year and was also the man chosen to introduce her at the Ard Fheis in June.
RUMOURS
Other names linked to the Sinn Fein candidacy include Fermanagh and West Tyrone MP Michelle Gildernew and MEP Liadh Ni Riada.
Mrs Mcdonald was asked to comment on the rumours about Mr Finucane on a visit to Belfast yesterday.
She said: “We are in the very lucky position that we have any number of people who might come forward and contest the election.
“We have appointed a committee, a sub-committee of the Ard Comhairle, to report back in 10 days’ time to agree the process by which the candidate will be selected.”
Mr Finucane has been at the forefront of his family’s long legal battle to secure answers about his father’s 1989 murder.
Pat Finucane, 38, was shot dead by loyalists in front of his wife and three children at their North Belfast home in February 1989.