Sinn Féin will have to reflect and regroup following the results of the local elections, according to party leader Mary Lou McDonald.
When the counting is complete, Sinn Féin is likely to finish with more councillors than in 2019 – but with fewer than the party envisioned at the start of campaigning this time around.
Speaking at the RDS count centre, she said the party had made “some gains”, albeit modest ones.
“But nonetheless I welcome that. It is clear to me that so many people on this occasion have chosen to vote for Independents and other smaller parties, they made that choice,” she said.
“We’ve listened to people all across the State, their frustration, their anger, and on this occassion they’ve chosen to vote for Independents.”
Ms McDonald said they have listened to people and will reflect, learn, and regroup.
She said they must now be “increasingly clear” on the solutions that Sinn Féin would bring on housing, health and childcare “in a much more focused and energetic way”.
Many people seemed to think Sinn Féin should be accountable for many of the mistakes in Government, she said, which “makes absolutely no sense”.
We need your consent to load this comcast-player contentWe use comcast-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Sinn Féin ‘ran too many’ candidates
Ms McDonald said she wanted to be sure she did not repeat the mistake from the 2020 general election of running too few candidates and on this occasion they “ran too many”.
“We ran fantastic, talented, energetic candidates, lots of them first timers, and I have no doubt that many, many of them will contest again.
“I know so many of them have put in a really hard shift. Politics and elections is tough stuff when you put yourself out there, so I want to thank them and their families and our activists because they worked very hard,” she said.
“It wasn’t our day, but we will have our day. I wish we had done better. I know we can and I’m very determined that we will.”
When asked if she was the right person to continue to lead the party, Ms McDonald said: “Absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt.”
“When things get hard and when your resilience is tested, that’s the real test of leadership. When the going gets tough, leaders step up, they don’t step down,” she added.
“I will step up. I will learn, I will listen. We will regroup, we will be back better and stronger than ever and I look forward to the general election.”
Greens ‘didn’t get the kicking’ predicted
Meanwhile, the Green Party’s Ciarán Cuffe, who is hoping to retain his European Parliament seat for Dublin, has said the Greens “didn’t get the kicking” that was predicted and even topped the poll in some places.
“Not so well in areas outside of Dublin but some seats still to play for,” he admitted.
“So if there’s a takeaway message I would say the Government parties have done OK. The smaller party in the coalition didn’t do as badly as it feared and then apart from that I think we’ll know more in a few hours.”
In terms of his own prospects, he said the tallies for the European elections are “very limited” so far but thinks there will be “four or five” candidates keeping a close eye on the fourth seat in Dublin.
The more things change, the more they stay the same
Smith ‘in the shake up’ for Dublin seat
People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Richard Boyd Barrett has said Bríd Smith was “very much in the shake up” to take a European seat in Dublin, but like Mr Cuffe added that without a tally it was “very difficult to say anything”.
He said it would be logical to say there should be another left-wing seat in the capital as it looks like the Government probably have two.
“But until we see the votes counted it’s too difficult to say,” he added.
Deputy Boyd Barrett said there was “deep disillusionment and anger” in certain parts of society that have felt neglected and many of those people have opted to vote for Independents.
He said there has been an effective strategy by the far right, and by some extent the Government, to deflect attention away from the Government’s “failing” on these issues and to scapegoat immigrants.
We need your consent to load this comcast-player contentWe use comcast-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Independent Ireland candidate Niall Boylan said “it looks” as though he is also still in the race for a Dublin seat.
“It looks like I could be in there with either the third or the fourth seat,” he said.
“I’d much prefer the third, I don’t want to be fighting like a hound for the last seat because I could be here until Wednesday.
“So it’s a really exciting time. I’m confident but I’m a bundle of nerves,” he added.
