THIS is the moment Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald got on stage alongside the Wolfe Tones.
The party held a ‘Rally for Change’ youth event in Dublin city centre yesterday, with the iconic Irish rebel tune band performing at the event.
Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, McDonald posted a snap of herself on stage with Brian Warfield, hailing it as an “iconic” moment in her life.
She wrote: “I’ve been on many a stage but this might be the most iconic one yet.”
Sinn Fein National Administrator Oisin McCann shared a vidoe of McDonald on stage with Warfield, who she joined in singing along with We’re On The One Road.
Speaking at the event, Mary Lou vowed that this election is “really crucial” for young people who, she said have the “highest stakes.”
She said she was “delighted” to speak with so many young people at the event.
McDonald said: “This election is an important one for everyone but I believe that it’s a really crucial one for young people, all of you are the ones with the most to win but also with the highest stakes.
“Today we launched our pledge to young people to make housing and rent and student accommodation more affordable.
“To deal with services that you rely on, to do all of those things because we know and we believe that we can live in a really equal and free Ireland.
“We want you to build your lives here.
“Always remember that the big historic steps forward in Irish history were led by young people who looked around at the society, the Ireland and the world that they lived in and said we can do better and we will do better.
“We’ll dream big and we live for our dreams, you are the generation that I hope wil lraise in time if you wish your own families here in an Ireland that is truly united and free, that is still our dream.”
MANIFESTO PROMISES
Sinn Fein are promising a cost of living package that is worth thousands of euro to workers and families in tax cuts, slashing childcare fees and making prescription meds free.
And Mary Lou McDonald’s party has vowed to kick off these cuts with a mini budget within the first 100 days if they are elected to Government.
Sinn Fein launched their manifesto this week which includes building 300,000 homes over the next five years – including 125,000 social, affordable purchase and cost rental homes at a cost of €7.4bn per year.
In healthcare, they plan to add 5,000 hospital beds to the system while also making prescription medicines free to all households and providing full medical cards to anyone who currently has a free GP card.
Inside Mary Lou McDonald’s political & personal life
MARY Lou McDonald is the current leader of the Sinn Fein political party in Ireland.
McDonald serves as a TD for the Dublin Centre constituency and has previously worked as deputy leader of her party, Sinn Fein’s Spokesperson for Public Expenditure and Reform and the party’s All-Ireland Spokesperson for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention.
She was an MEP for Dublin from 2004 to 2009.
Prior to stepping into politics McDonald worked as consultant for the Irish Productivity Centre, a researcher for the Institute of European Affairs and a trainer in the trade union sponsored Partnership Unit of the Educational and Training Services Trust.
In 1996 the Dublin TD married her husband Martin Lanigan. The pair have two teenage children together, Iseult and Gerard.
The outspoken opposition party leader has been vocal in the media and in Dail Eireann on Government policy on everything from housing to health.
In September, the politician opened up about recent personal challenges, including her husband’s cancer diagnosis, her father’s death and her own hysterectomy.
She told Virgin Media Television’s Ireland AM that “life just throws curveballs at you”.
She added: “A cancer diagnosis is just a game changer for the individual, but also for the family, and that was the case for our family.
“I’m talking about it now because he’s one of the very lucky ones in that we have come to the end game, we see the light.
“We’re walking into the light at the end of the tunnel and his prognosis now is, is good, thank God and for that I am eternally, eternally grateful.”
The Sinn Fein president’s father, Patrick Bernard McDonald, died back on July 29.
And the politician underwent a hysterectomy in June 2023, admitting she had faced a “very tough year” overall.
The party’s potential finance minister Pearse Doherty said he will abolish the USC for all workers on the first €45,000 you earn – which would amount to about €2,000 per year and cost the State €1.84 billion.
The Donegal TD has also committed to scrapping the local property tax and the TV licence all together.
The party proposes cutting the price of petrol and diesel by reversing two recent hikes for one year.
And Sinn Fein claim they can reduce the price of childcare to €10 per day – saving a family currently paying €1,200 a month up to €600.
