Leader of Sinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald said on Friday evening that every individual “has the right to respect”, following last week’s fallout from the party’s health spokesperson David Cullinane backing a UK court ruling on transgender.
Speaking on RTÉ’s The Late Late Show, Ms McDonald said the issue is also personal for her. “I have a trans sibling, and I love my sister. She’s loved beyond measure, and I want her to live a full life, and I want that for any individual.” She added that the discussion on equality and LGBTQ+ issues must start from a “position of respect”.
Last week, Mr Cullinane apologised after he praised the UK’s supreme court ruling defining women by their biological sex as a “common sense judgement”.
The ruling means that transgender women with a gender recognition certificate can be excluded from single-sex spaces and from certain equality protections.
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The Waterford TD apologised for the “hurt and offence” caused to the transgender community with his post on X.
“In terms of David, the great thing about social media is that it’s immediate but that’s also the problem,” said Ms McDonald. “The first decision has to be that we work for equality. Everyone has to have the right to respect, and I believe we can reach that in a fair way.”
In terms of continuing to lead her party, Ms McDonald said she is not considering stepping down from her role after failing to get “enough votes” in last November’s general election. “I’m in the job now seven years, I’m in my prime. I believe in what we’re doing. I’m a proud Dubliner, a proud Irishwoman. There are so many things that can be achieved, and I want to be part of leading those discussions.
“Simply put, we didn’t get enough votes. We learned lessons from the last campaign. We just need to convince people we can do things differently. In this work, every day is a school day, every campaign is different.”
In terms of the upcoming presidential election, the Dublin native said she believes it is “crazy” that people in the six counties “can’t vote for their president”.
Ms McDonald noted that, for her, “the role of the president, the essence of it is inclusivity. The important thing is we need to get over the first hurdle to ensure that people living in Ireland can vote for their president.”
