Is a Sinn Féin Taoiseach and First Minister on the cards?

Sinn Féin is keen to get back into government in Stormont - both Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O'Neill have already made that clear.

      There are two reasons for that.

Michelle O'Neill will make history as the first nationalist first minister in the North of Ireland. She's already won the right to that job, but is waiting on a start date.

That will depend on the DUP lifting its veto on the institutions. 

There's no sign of that in the short term.

But Sinn Féin in government in the North of Ireland helps the party in the Republic of Ireland too. It is performing very strongly in opinion polls in the Republic.

Its frontbench spokespeople are competent media performers but they've yet to spend as much as an hour in power. It frequently describes them as ministers-in-waiting.

The ability to point to responsible ministers taking day-to-day decisions, north of the border, would help combat opposition claims they are untested.

   Sinn Féin would relish the chance for a       new poll, confident they'd secure even       more seats. IMAGE SOURCE/PA MEDIA 

As it happened: Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald's speech

On Friday, the NI secretary ruled out a fresh Stormont election. 

Sinn Féin would relish the chance of a new poll, confident they'd secure even more seats.

In May, the party won the highest number of seats. Party insiders think there's the potential for at least three further gains.

In 2020, the party shocked the establishment (and its own leadership) when they won the most first preference votes.

Back then, 22% was a high point. Now the party consistently polls well over 30% - way ahead of its nearest rivals.

No longer does the party dream of just being in government in Dublin - it now has a realistic chance of leading that government.

A Sinn Féin taoiseach (Irish prime minister) and a Sinn Féin first minister? Don't rule it out.

That must wait though.

The next election is scheduled for 2025. It can't come soon enough for Mary Lou McDonald and her team.

   Taoiseach Micheál Martin accused the       party of a growing attempt to intimate      its critics. IMAGE SOURCE/PA MEDIA 

With increased poll ratings, comes increased scrutiny. In the past week, the party's housing spokesperson had to apologise after calling for the country's chief economist to be sacked.

Just weeks ago a former Sinn Féin councillor was jailed for four years after admitting to facilitating a murder. Political opponents have accused the party of trying to shut down debate.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin accused the party of a growing attempt to intimidate its critics, adding that opponents were now "regularly receiving legal threats".

On Saturday night, Mary Lou McDonald gave the closing address to almost 2,000 delegates at Dublin's RDS.

It was her first return to this venue since she took over the leadership in 2018.

Along with Michelle O'Neill, she has brought the party to new heights, on both sides of the border.

But they aren't finished yet.

With many thanks to: BBC News NI and Darran Marshall (BBC Political Correspondent) for the original story. 

Follow these links to find out more on this story: UVF mouthpiece Jamie Bryson has now emerged as the DUP's de facto director of policies. This is a very dangerous position for DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson to project in the middle of ongoing talks between the British Government and the European Union and the NI Protocol Bill going through the House of Lords.

IS DUP LEADER REALLY A SIR - OR IS HE REALLY A COWBOY?

HIDING | Michelle O’Neill says serving under a Sinn Féin First Minister is the real reason behind DUP boycott

Is a Sinn Féin taoiseach and first minister on the cards?

Prospect of Sinn Féin leading government North and South now very real, says McDonald

PARTY LEADER tells US audience there will be a referendum on Irish unity within a decade and that people are ready for a united nation

 Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O’Neill    both predict there will be a referendum       on Irish unity within the next decade.             PHOTO: Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye. 

             Thursday Sep 8th, 2022. 

The prospect of Sinn Féin leading governments North and South is now very real, party leader Mary Lou McDonald has told an audience in the United States.

Speaking at the University of San Francisco in California on Wednesday night she forecast there would be a referendum on Irish unity within the next decade.

“We must prepare for that day. The people of Ireland are ready. We are ready to be a united nation once again.”

          OUR: Future is Irish Unity 

She described the partition of Ireland a century ago as “a disastrous act of political vandalism” that had resulted in “the creation of two reactionary states on the island of Ireland”.

“The North, the Orange state, was a place of brutal oppression and discrimination. Nationalist Catholics were excluded from power and denied jobs, employment, and basic civil rights.”

“The South became a deeply conservative state that kept women down, marginalised ordinary working people and turned its back on progressive politics.”

However, she that Ireland was now transformed and that seismic, generational change was under way.

“Today, we reach for full nationhood, for the fair and equal society our people so desperately want, and ultimately, we reach for the reunification of our country”.

She said unity was “the best idea for the future of Ireland and the greatest opportunity we face”.

    A United Ireland - Why Unification is                                 Inevitable 

“It demands that both the Irish and British governments wake up and catch up to the fact that the people of Ireland are choosing a future of unity and togetherness.”

Ms McDonald said Sinn Féin wanted to be in government because it was ambitious for Ireland and its people. “We refuse to be held back by those who are tired and out of ideas.”

She said people in their 20s and 30s were likely to be the first generation in Ireland to be worse off than their parents, adding they were locked out of opportunity and locked out of home ownership.

“This is not right. It is only natural that each generation stands and succeeds on the shoulders of their parents. That is the very bedrock of human progress.”

Ms McDonald said the driving force behind Sinn Féin in government would be the principle that each generation must advance, each generation must thrive and each generation must have the chance to make it.

Ms McDonald promised Sinn Féin in government would seize and maximise the opportunities presented to Ireland in its ability to be a powerhouse in the development of renewable energy.

She said Ireland could play a key role in decarbonising the economies of Europe. “Ireland should and can be a world leader in the production of clean, renewable energy.

“Our abundant wind resource put us in the position where our small island could be an international hub for renewables, and there exists an exciting opportunity particularly in the development of our offshore capacity and green hydrogen.”

The Sinn Féin leader said in Northern Ireland in May the people had voted for progress, for a government for all and an executive that rolled up its sleeves and got the job done.

She said the DUP “must end the boycott of democracy and of the political institutions, and work to form a government that work for the people”.

Ms McDonald told the event that as new British prime minister Liz Truss entered Downing Street “she must break with the bad-faith agenda of her predecessors and change direction, end the unilateral actions and respect international law”.

“We need to see a recommitment to the Good Friday Agreement, support for the restoration of the political institutions, and an end to game playing around the Irish protocol.”

With many thanks to: The Irish Times and Martin Wall for the original story. 

Follow these links to find out more on this story: Unionist-dominated Ulster is over: Are we on a demographic march towards Irish reunification?

How Brexit and a blundering leader of the DUP and his party have ensured the Union's days may well be truly numbered

Prospect of Sinn Féin leading government North and South now very real, says McDonald

Country planners object to Hammerson's 881-apartment plan for Dundrum

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council says high density scheme not capable of delivering ‘anything approaching an appropriate mix of uses’ for the site

      Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County            Council has objected to Hammerson's           plans for 881 apartments on the              1970s-era Dublin shopping centre site.            Photograph: Matt Kavanagh

               Tuesday June 14th, 2022. 

Plans for a complex of almost 900 apartments on the site of the old shopping centre in Dundrum, including a 16-storey block, would “significantly detract” from the character of the area and should be refused, Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council has told An Bord Pleanála.

British property group Hammerson, which owns the Dundrum Town Centre, sought permission in April for the 11 block scheme. The complex of 881 apartments, along with cafés, restaurants, a crèche and some shops, is among the last major developments lodged under fast track Strategic Housing Development (SHD) process where applications for large schemes bypass the local authority planning system and are submitted directly to An Bord Pleanála.

  Sign the Petition - Save Moore Street

In a report totalling more than 120 pages the council’s planners have urged the board to reject Hammerson’s scheme which they said was in conflict with the county development plan in a number of respects and would not be in accord with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.

It said there were “serious concerns” about the extent of the residential development which accounted for about 95 per cent of the use of the site. “It is the planning authority’s strong opinion that the subject proposal is not capable of delivering anything approaching an appropriate mix of uses,” it said.

The “inadequate type and extent of non-residential uses” proposed would make a “null contribution to the site fulfilling its role as a strategic employment location”.

The demolition of a number of buildings on Main Street, though not protected structures, would impact on the town’s Architectural Conservation Area (ACA) and had not been adequately justified, it said.

  Save Moore Street Concert 'Liberty Hall,    Dublin' Thursday 11th August - Tickets                                  €25

The provision of 82 three-bed apartments, 9 per cent of the total, “does not comprise a balanced mix” it argued, and this was particularly relevant in an area dominated by semidetached two-storey houses.

“It is necessary that adequately sized apartments capable of meeting family needs are delivered in sufficient amount to cater [for] the population needs. Otherwise existing predominant ideas of apartment living comprising only a stepping stone for younger and more transient cohorts of the population before moving on to low rise housing will continue.”

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     Moore StreetPreservation Trust

The living conditions for future residents were also a serious concern, with “high levels of active and passive overlooking” of apartments and “very poor levels of residential amenity”, the council said.

“The proposal comprises overdevelopment of the subject site” and the average height of 12 storeys along the Dundrum bypass side of the scheme would have an “oppressing and dominant effect”, the council said.

                   Follow this link: 

The Campaign to Save Moore Street Initiative

“Having regard to the proposed mix of uses and, in particular the low quantum of non-residential uses proposed, the planning authority is not satisfied that the proposed development adequately contributes to delivering a vibrant and multifunctional major town centre at Dundrum.”

Hammerson has said their plans are “fully in line with national policy and SHD planning requirements” and that the town had an “exceptionally low residential component at present”. There would be shops and other non-residential elements in the new development, the company said.

More than 700 objections to the scheme have been lodged with the board. A decision is due next month.

With many thanks to: The Irish Times and Olivia Kelly (Dublin Editor) The Irish Times  for the original publication. 

Follow these links to find out more on this story: SIGN THE PETITION - Save Moore Street From Demolition

Sinn Féin leader lodges appeal against third phase of €500m Dublin city centre project

Country planners object to Hammerson's 881-apartment plan for Dundrum

Sinn Féin leader lodges appeal against third phase of €500m Dublin city centre project

Latest stage of Hammerson scheme involves demolition of buildings and structures on Moore Street and Lane

    Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald          claimed the planning application fails         'to protect and preserve this area of          unique historical, architectural, social,          cultural and economic importance'. 

             Monday July 25, 2022. 

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has lodged a planning appeal against the third phase of Hammerson’s €500 million transformation plan for Dublin city centre.

Stephen Troy of Troy Family Butchers on Moore Street has already lodged an appeal against the Dublin City Council grant of permission last month to Hammerson subsidiary Dublin Central GP Ltd.

   Save Moore Street From Demolition

  Sign the Petition - Save Moore Street

In total, the planning board has now received nine third-party appeals against the Hammerson scheme, while t Dublin Central GP Ltd has lodged a first-party appeal against conditions attached to the permission.

Others to appeal include The 1916 Relatives Moore Street Initiative, Relatives of Signatories of the Proclamation, Moore Street Preservation and the Moore Street Traders along with several individual appeals.

The latest phase of the scheme involves demolition of buildings and structures at Moore Street and Moore Lane to accommodate a public plaza along with a mixed-use scheme in a six-storey building.

READ MORE: [ County planners object to Hammerson’s 881-apartment plan for Dundrum ]

  

The permission follows two other approvals earlier this year by the city council relating to other parts of the Dublin Central Project that involve 79 build-to-rent apartments and hotel, retail, restaurant, cafe as well as cultural uses.

Ms McDonald and several others have lodged appeals against the other two grants of permission to the appeals board.

  Save Moore Street Concert 'Liberty Hall,       Dublin' Thursday 11th August - €25

In her objection against the third phase, she claimed that the proposed development “will erase for all time Moore Street’s unique plot grains and courtyards which give this site its historic core differentiating it from other competing locations nationally and internationally”. She further noted that “Moore Street, famed for its street market traditions and 1916 Rising connections, is Dublin’s historic core and as such provides the city’s uniqueness in terms of a tourist offering and a sustainable, socially just and economically vibrant regeneration opportunity for the north inner city”.

The Sinn Féin leader claimed that the planning application fails “to protect and preserve this area of unique historical, architectural, social, cultural and economic importance”

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Concerning the latest phase, the Dublin City Council planning report — which recommended permission —

stated that the proposal “would secure the regeneration of a brownfield site in a city centre location for office and café/restaurant space, providing frontage to a new public space”.

The city council said the scheme “would ensure a more active frontage to O’Rahilly Parade in keeping with its historic significance”.

                    Follow This Link: 

   The Campaign to  Save Moore Street

The local authority also stated that the proposed development, together with the development proposed on the adjoining site, which is the subject of an appeal to An Bord Pleanála “will complement the development of the adjacent National Monument as a commemorative centre for the 1916 Rising”.

A decision is due on the case in November. But as a consequence of the backlog in appeals, it is likely that a decision will not be made until 2023.

With many thanks to: The Irish Times and Gordon Deegan Contributor to The Irish Times for the original publication. 

Follow these links to find out more on this story: Sign the Petition - Save Moore Street From Demolition

Sinn Féin leader lodges appeal against third phase of €500m Dublin city centre project

Country planners object to Hammerson's 881-apartment plan for Dundrum