Opinion

Shane Coleman: Sinn Féin’s new rhetoric on immigration gives credence to baseless fears

Mary Lou McDonald has made strategic and deliberate comments showing the party has changed its position on immigration

The targeting and verbal abuse of Mary Lou McDonald by protesters in East Wall in her Dublin Central constituency a couple of months back was just the latest manifestation of how the dial has turned for Sinn Féin in working-class areas. Picture: Getty

Is Sinn Féin the first of the political parties in Dáil Éireann to break ranks on immigration? The party and its army of ever vigilant online supporters will baulk at the very suggestion. But two interviews given by Mary Lou McDonald in the run-up to Christmas mean the question is an entirely legitimate one.

In a sit-down with the Irish Daily Mail, the Sinn Féin leader said Ukrainian refugees not working in ‘critical’ jobs should ...