Mary Lou McDonald interview: ‘I’m not one bit presumptuous about Sinn Féin’s automatic ascent to power’

The Sinn Féin leader’s prospects of becoming the first ever female taoiseach are looking increasingly good, but she is adamant that she won’t take the result of the next general election for granted

Mary Lou MacDonald: ‘Nobody should imagine that Sinn Féin is going to hand down, Messiah-like on tablets of stone, the new Ireland.’ Picture: Bryan Meade

Mary Lou McDonald has found out that Shane Ross is investigating her.

The former Independent Alliance minister has been calling to the homes of her relatives and friends as part of the research for his forthcoming biography of the Sinn Féin leader, which was commissioned by a London publisher.

By all accounts, he got a warm reception from McDonald’s relatives in Tipperary, from where her mother hails, but did not make much progress during his ...