No contest... Coronation of Mary Lou marks generational shift for Sinn Féin
MARY Lou McDonald will be the new leader of Sinn Féin, succeeding Gerry Adams who led the party for over 34 years.
Ms McDonald was confirmed as the sole nominee for the position at the party’s Ard Comhairle meeting at its Belfast offices yesterday.
Nominations for the role closed on Friday at 5pm and Ms McDonald’s leadership will be officially ratified at a special Sinn Féin Ard Fheis in Dublin on February 10.
The Sinn Féin deputy leader has been a TD for Dublin Central since 2011 and was widely tipped to take over from Mr Adams when he announced his retirement back in November.
Ms McDonald spoke of a new chapter of confidence for the republican party and its goal to achieve a united Ireland.
‘I won’t fill Gerry’s shoes, but the news is that I brought my own,’ Ms McDonald said.
‘I will fill my shoes, I will walk in my shoes. And we together, over the coming years will walk a journey that is full of opportunities, full of challenges, but I believe which marks a defining chapter of our achievement of a united Ireland and the ending of partition,’ she said.
Ms McDonald grew up in Rathgar in south Dublin and studied English literature at Trinity College. She joined Fianna Fáil in the late 1990s in Dublin West but moved to Sinn Féin shortly afterwards.
She ran for the constituency in her new party in 2002 but failed to win a seat in the Dáil.
Prior to her most recent position in the Dáil, she was elected for the Dublin constituency as an MEP in 2004, becoming Sinn Féin’s first MEP in the Republic.
The election of Ms McDonald as party president and the appointment of Michelle O’Neill as leader in the North, both women in their 40s, marks a generational shift for the party.