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Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald (left) and vice president Michelle O\u2019Neill (centre) during the party\u2019s Ard Fheis (Mark Marlow\/PA)<\/p>\nThe Sinn Fein leader said a unity referendum by 2030 is still possible and she hoped unionist political leaders would see the \u2018chance of real wins\u2019.<\/p>\n
Mary Lou McDonald has urged voters to \u201chit\u201d Government parties \u201charder\u201d by supporting Sinn Fein in upcoming by-elections in an address focused on cost-of-living measures.<\/p>\n
In her speech to party faithful at the Ard Fheis in Belfast, the Sinn Fein president said the Government needs to introduce an emergency budget after trying to \u201cbuy off\u201d fuel protesters.<\/p>\n
She also said an Irish unity referendum by 2030 is still possible and she hoped unionist political leaders would see the \u201cchance of real wins\u201d.<\/p>\n
Earlier on Saturday, Ms McDonald sought to play down reports of discontent with her leadership, insisting she will lead Sinn Fein into the next general election and stating she has the confidence of party members.<\/p>\n
Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald (left) and vice president Michelle O\u2019Neill (centre) during the party\u2019s Ard Fheis (Mark Marlow\/PA)<\/p>\n
In her keynote address, the Sinn Fein leader referred to fuel protests that brought parts of Ireland to a standstill, saying people gathered \u201cwith tractors, trucks and lorries \u2013 tools of their livelihoods\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cFianna Fail and Fine Gael believed they could buy off workers with half-measures, that they had subdued the ordinary people of Ireland,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people stood up, challenged those in power and put them on notice that workers and families can\u2019t take any more.\u201d<\/p>\n
She reiterated calls on the Government to introduce an emergency mini-budget \u201cwith a substantial cut to excise to make fuel affordable, including the complete removal of carbon tax on home heating oil and green diesel\u201d as well as electricity credits, additional support for social welfare and \u201cimmediate relief for taxpayers\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe universal social charge (USC), Fianna Fail\u2019s tax, introduced when they crashed the Irish economy, is a constant drag on your wages,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are calling for a permanent cut in this tax for every worker, starting with putting 500 euro back in your pocket.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis must happen now because people cannot wait.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moving to Irish unity, Ms McDonald said a referendum can be achieved by 2030 but \u201cpreparation must happen now\u201d as she made a direct appeal to unionist politicians in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe respect and value Protestant, unionist, loyalist people \u2013 this is your home and we want to build Ireland\u2019s future with you, to work constructively together,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe leadership of unionism must work also for progress.<\/p>\n
\u201cDivisive, rejectionist, sectarian politics must be consigned to history, it has no place in our future.<\/p>\n
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Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald delivers her keynote speech during her party\u2019s Ard Fheis (Mark Marlow\/PA)<\/p>\n
\u201cCasement Park will be built, the diggers are on-site. The A5 will save lives, stopping this road is not acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her harshest critique was reserved for the Government parties, who she said are the \u201cbiggest barrier to planning for unity\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe days of saying yes to unity, but \u2018not now\u2019, must end,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey must do what\u2019s right for Ireland \u2013 lead, prepare for referendums, engage with people, grasp the opportunity of the united island.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is the patriotic thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cMake no mistake, we are out to fully end British government rule in Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Sinn Fein president took aim at the Government\u2019s housing policy, describing them as \u201cthe parties of boarded-up homes, rip-off rents, sky-high house prices, of chronic homelessness, robbing families of dignity, children of childhood.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot, we will not allow them to prevail.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms McDonald received one of her strongest responses from the crowd when referring to the war in the Middle East, saying Israel needs to be shown \u201cthe red card\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo whitewashing, no sports washing, no welcome for the Israeli football team,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Ms McDonald said: \u201cMicheal Martin, Simon Harris, I challenge you to put your plans to scrap the triple lock to the people. You\u2019ll get your answer. Hands off Irish neutrality.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Mary](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2.84407147.jpg\")
Mary Lou McDonald said Israel needs to be \u2018shown the red card\u2019 (Mark Marlow\/PA)<\/p>\n
In her concluding remarks, she told members: \u201cFianna Fail and Fine Gael may have survived Sinn Fein\u2019s motion of no confidence, but they do not have the confidence of the Irish people.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have lost a minister and a TD, two men down.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were strong enough to take them on and we forced the first cracks in this Government, but we need to keep the pressure on because we need to get them out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe upcoming by-elections are your chance to hit them harder, to strengthen Sinn Fein\u2019s hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the conclusion of her speech she joined party members in singing Amhran na bhFiann, the Irish national anthem, which was followed by Do You Hear The People Sing from the musical Les Miserables.<\/p>\n
On Saturday morning, flagged by party colleagues from both sides of the border including First Minister Michelle O\u2019Neill, Ms McDonald sought to pour cold water on reports of desire for a change of leader.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the media, she said: \u201cWe\u2019re in a very, very strong position, so we go out and we fight those elections in that spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very proud to lead this party. I\u2019m very proud to enjoy the confidence of my colleagues and the broader membership. So, as you may try to seek a story in that, there isn\u2019t a story there.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m the leader of the party, we are a collective leadership and we are in a very, very good place.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, we\u2019ll fight the by-elections and I think they\u2019re going to be fascinating contests, actually, in both constituencies. I think it\u2019ll be a brave person who would predict the outcomes of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked directly if she would lead Sinn Fein into the next general election, she said: \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The crowd cheered and applauded before Ms McDonald\u2019s keynote address when it was announced that she was re-elected as president.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Sinn Fein leader said a unity referendum by 2030 is still possible and she hoped unionist political…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-411135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}