Another bad day at the ballot box for Mary Lou
SINN Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald has conceded her party will lose seats in the local elections but denied she is “shell-shocked”.
The expected loss of seats is the second lacklustre performance by Sinn Fein since Ms McDonald assumed the party leadership.
It had a disastrous showing in the race for Aras an Uachtarain last year.
It was put to Ms McDonald that she had a bad day in the presidential election last October and another one today.
She was asked if there will be questions over her leadership if there’s another poor performance in the next general election.
Ms McDonald was defiant in her response, saying: “Leaders are charged with leadership come what may.
“It’s easy to lead and to be a political activist when things go your way and when the surge is on. Those are great days but you also have to be ready and fit for purpose when things are more challenging.”
She added: “Notwithstanding our disappointment, Sinn Fein remains a very strong organisation.”
Earlier she outlined how her party won a hundred extra seats in the local elections in 2014. “Our objective was to hold each and every one of those 100 seats, but unfortunately that’s not going to be the case.
“Today is the Greens’ day. They have surged on this occasion and more power to them.
“It would be churlish not to acknowledge that and to wish them well.”
On the seats her party will lose, she said: “It will be our objective from Monday when we recover to win all of those seats back.”
In relation to the European Elections, Ms McDonald insisted her party was still “in the hunt” for four seats, three in the south and one in the North.
She acknowledged that the three constituencies in the south are “tight contests”.
Ms McDonald appears to be losing her voice, which she put down to a cold.
She denied suggestions that she was shell-shocked, saying: “I have a cold. That doesn’t constitute shellshock.”
She said there’s disappointment but also added: “I’m also very sure that Sinn Fein aren’t cry-babies.
“We’ll dust ourselves down and we’ll get back at it because that’s what political activism is all about.”
She said she believes there are a number of factors that impacted on her party including the “huge surge to the Greens” which she said affected all the larger parties.
Earlier, Louise O’Reilly defended party leader Ms McDonald amid what is looking like a second lacklustre election for the party in the south under her leadership.
Outgoing Sinn Fein MEP Lynn Boylan will face a battle to retain her seat in Dublin and it is said to be “close to call” whether or not the party will remain the largest on Dublin City Council, the country’s largest local authority.
Ms O’Reilly was asked if there was anything else Ms McDonald could have done to boost the party’s support, she said: “The three big parties have been squeezed but I don’t think that’s any more of an issue for Mary Lou McDonald than it is for Micheal Martin or Leo Varadkar.
‘There hasn’t been a vote counted so I wouldn’t write anyone off’