McDonald accuses parties of treating Sinn Féin voters as ‘second-class citizens’
By David Young and Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA
Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald has accused Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil of treating her party’s voters as second-class citizens.
Ms McDonald suggested her rivals’ outright dismissal of Sinn Féin as a potential coalition partner demonstrated a lack of respect for the party’s supporters.
Her comments came amid increasing focus on coalition permutations after the general election.
Launching her party’s proposals on housing at an event in west Dublin on Tuesday, Ms McDonald accused the lead parties in the last government of showing a lack of humility.
“If I was to listen to the coalition parties, I wouldn’t get up out of bed in the morning,” she said.
“They can’t pass a microphone without stating how appalled they are, and how they will never ever, ever speak to Sinn Féin.
“They were at that in the last election as well.
“Let me just on that make this point – a lot of people vote for Sinn Féin, rely on us to represent them. I would ask Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to try and muster at least a little bit of respect for the communities and the voters who vote for us.
“They’re not second-class citizens, they are equal voters, just like everybody else, and I think they should demonstrate a little bit of humility and a little bit of respect towards those citizens too.”
While Ms McDonald has said the “best outcome” of the election would be a government without Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, she has stopped short of ruling out entering into a partnership with her long-term rivals.
“Our position of wanting to have a government beyond Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael is now a long-standing one, there’s nothing new in it,” she told reporters on Tuesday.
“We believe after a century of those two parties dominating and running government that the time is right now for a change, that is the answer, that is the way in which we can make the changes that will benefit our society.”
At the launch of his party’s manifesto in Dublin, Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman was asked about the prospect of re-entering government after the Greens served as a junior partner in the last administration.
“First of all, I haven’t heard anybody rule us out,” he said.
“What I’ve heard is an attempt, I think, by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to get the numbers themselves that they won’t need any support, but if there’s a need for additional parties, I think those negotiations will take place.
“We’ve demonstrated that we can negotiate hard. We’ve demonstrated that we can create a really effective programme for government, but we’re making it very clear today that increased investment, 10 billion into public transport, is a key issue for us in those programme for government negotiations.”
Asked whether he wanted to remain as integration minister, Mr O’Gorman said: “I think it’s far too early for any one of us to be putting our names beside departments. I have to ensure that the people of Dublin West re-elect me as their TD.”
