Mary Lou McDonald has said her intention is to lead Sinn Féin into the next general election despite her party appearing highly unlikely to form part of the next government.
Ms McDonald said she believed Sinn Féin “made very significant strides” by claiming 39 Dáil seats and that she had “a huge amount of work” to do.
“We’ve had good days out. We’ve had not such good days out, but we now have very, very firm foundations to build into the future,” she told RTÉ radio’s This Week.
She said the results showed that her party’s 2020 result, when it won 37 seats, was not a flash in the pan and that Sinn Féin was now a political force in the State.
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The Dublin Central TD said nobody should presume the next general election would be held in five years. “It might be. It also might not be. My intention is to lead from the front and to work with a very talented new team.”
She repeatedly criticised Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin for refusing to talk to her party in the wake of the election, with the broad expectation that he and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris would form a coalition with assistance from some Independent TDs.
Ms McDonald said she hoped to get an opportunity to speak to Mr Martin in the course of the next week.
“I think the least that he can do is show a level of respect to the Sinn Féin electorate. He’s not crazy about the idea of Sinn Féin in government. He’s made that clear. I have made my position clear as regards what I thought would be the best outcome,” she said.
“But now the election is over, the votes have been counted, and I think lots of people across Irish society would agree with me in saying that we need an absolute step change in policy and more of the same again is not good news.”
She added: “I think collectively we have a duty to press Fianna Fáil, in particular, to step away from the failed, disastrous approach that they have been pursuing with Fine Gael over the last number of years. I feel that profoundly because we cannot suffer another five years like the last five. Our young people are voting with their feet, and that is bad news for our society and for our economy.”
Ms McDonald also dismissed media reports suggesting that she could be Sinn Féin’s candidate in the next presidential election, saying it was news to her and “not something at all that’s been on my horizon”.
Speaking on the same programme, Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin Bay South Jim O’Callaghan said his view was that it was possible for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to form a stable government supported by a “reliable cohort” of Independent TDs.
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Asked about Sinn Féin, he said his party had made clear it would not go into government with them in advance of the election and that it would be “very cynical” to do a U-turn on that commitment at this stage.
Mr O’Callaghan also said it was his view that should they form a coalition, the greater strength of Fianna Fáil (48 Dáil seats) compared to Fine Gael (38 seats) should be reflected in the period of time each leader has as taoiseach and in the composition of the cabinet.
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