Does Mary Lou have the touch to take Sinn Féin mainstream? The jury is still out

MARY Lou McDonald no longer has the swaggering confidence which defined her prior to taking up the mantle vacated by Gerry Adams. Since landing the top job in Sinn Féin she has been far less sure-footed.

Her traditional verbal stridency too often sounds like somebody over-desperate to be heard. The question is being asked more and more: has she got what it takes to carve out a new space for the party?

In trying to forge a somewhat bornagain, post-Adams political organisation, there are too many skid marks on the journey so far.

The self-proclaimed destination is getting into government south of the Border. That means only one thing – a coalition deal with either Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil after the next general election.

Yet, as per the not always unreliable trick of smelling the wind, this option seems as far away as ever.

Micheál Martin has nailed his colours to the mast – there will be no deal-making with Fianna Fáil, whichever way the cookie crumbles.

Despite some odd flirtatious noises from the Varadkar camp, the ground here also seems to have shifted. As things stand, it would be impossible to imagine Sinn Féin ministers swapping pleasantries with the Charlie Flanagan Fine Gael wing in cabinet.

When McDonald took over, there was much speculation that she would downplay the whiff of sulphur intrinsic to her party. This was seen as central to making her TDs more coalition-friendly.

Would she even try to rebrand Sinn Féin as a kind of broad-based social democratic entity? That would mean hard-left economics downgraded and less stridency on the whole Northern Ireland question.

This particular game plan never got off the ground. The tone and texture of McDonald’s leadership has failed to signal a new dawn. One gaffe leading to another has dented any desire to remove hard edges from the party’s image.

Striding behind the naive and simplistic ‘England get out of Ireland’ banner during St Patrick’s Day festivities in New York sent out all the wrong signals for an organisation presumed to be ploughing a new furrow. The slogan was redolent of simplistic nationalism from another era.

Most damaging of all, it was embarrassing from a global Irish perspective. In terms of sophistication of debate, we have in general been winning the argument in these times of Brexit battles.

However, a jingoistic catch cry from days gone by only provides fodder for those who wish to discuss Northern Ireland while locked in a time-warp.

The holy grail of Irish unity will not be expedited by repeating shibboleths of old. Higher living standards and increased education levels are more powerful than any physical force tradition in nudging North and South towards a mantra of live and let live.

Sinn Féin agitating about a Border poll at this point in time is also seriously counter-productive.

The future of nationalists and unionists can no longer be reduced to a basic numbers game.

The essence of the challenge confronting Sinn Féin’s new leader is the nigh impossibility of satisfying two diverse constituencies.

On the one hand, north of the Border politics is all too often harsh and unyielding. From a southern perspective, the not-an-inch philosophy, still favoured by so many ‘up there’, is hard to take.

In contrast, would-be Sinn Féin

supporters in the Republic increasingly embrace a more considered view on matters relating to Northern Ireland.

All the while, a primary Sinn Féin objective is to get as many TDs as possible elected to the Dáil.

The party badly needs to up its current quota, otherwise momentum will stall. But McDonald must try to soften things down south if she is to have any hope of entering the Leinster House inner sanctum.

It will require a deft and sure touch from any Sinn Féin leader in the battle to move the party more mainstream. The jury is out on whether the new leader has what it takes.

Parroting ‘England get out of Ireland’ is long past its sell-by date, but perhaps men with hard, keen faces – stalking in the shadows – still think it’s a catch-cry for the ages.

Therein lies the biggest challenge of all for Mary Lou McDonald.

One gaffe leading to another has dented any desire to remove hard edges from the party’s image