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Despite Sinn Féin sneering, McGrath was right to be in Davos

Should Mary Lou McDonald find herself in power, the temptation for her to hobnob with the world’s richest will be too tempting to resist

Mary Lou McDonald and Pearse Doherty, Sinn Féin party leader and finance spokesman. If in government next year, will they be boycotting every state leader they disagree with?

Pearse Doherty was indignant, almost sneering, that Finance Minister Michael McGrath was in Davos and not the Dáil on Wednesday and Thursday to answer his Sinn Féin motion to impose higher stamp duty penalties on financial institutions – “vultures” – buying residential homes in bulk.

But if Sinn Féin’s Doherty is Minister for Finance this time next year, and his party leader, Mary Lou McDonald, is Taoiseach, then the temptation to travel to Switzerland to ...