Mary Lou McDonald on Dáil speaking time row, Pope Francis, and loss of father
Mary Lou McDonald has said it will 'never be acceptable' to blur the lines between opposition and government, as she addressed the recent Dáil speaking time row on Friday's Late Late Show.
The Sinn Féin leader appeared as the first guest of the night, chatting with host Patrick Kielty about the loss of her father last year, why she wouldn't run for president, the Dáil speaking time row, and her admiration for Pope Francis.
With Pope Francis' funeral taking place on Saturday morning, the conversation started with Patrick asking Mary Lou how significant the loss of the Pontiff was to the world.
'I think we can safely say that the world has lost a very very good man and is the poorer place for it,' the Sinn Féin leader shared.
'I mean for me he was very much a champion of the poor, even the choice of the name Pope Francis…. he was for the underdog, the excluded.
'He rang Gaza city every evening, imagine that? Even when he was really really sick and struggling himself and that I think, above all other gestures, told the world who he was.
'So tomorrow he will go to his rest and I only hope that whoever his successor is follows in the same train.'
Turning to Dáil speaking time row, Patrick asked the Sinn Féin leader if things were going to 'calm down a bit'.
'This is now my fourth Dáil term and I thought I had seen it all until I discover I hadn't,' Mary Lou told Patrick.
'So imagine this, that Michael Lowry resurrected Lazarus, like the key man informing this government, and the guy that they all believe they have to keep happy.
'So that was one thing that I did not predict, and then we moved to the crazy situation of suggesting you could be in government and opposition at the same time.
'So of course as the opposition, we couldn't tolerate that and it wasn't really about who got how many minutes, it was about the fundamental principle that for the system to work and for people to be represented properly, there has to be a clear distinction between government and opposition.
'So it got a very heated response and rightly so Paddy.'
She added: 'Look, we have work to do, children can't get school places and people are looking for medical treatment that they can't access.
'I'm dealing with a lot of women who are suffering with endometriosis and other conditions, so there's work to be done and we have to crack on with that but let me say this it will never be acceptable to blur the lines in the way that this government sought to blur them.
'Having gone to the electorate, they formed their government, I accept that, I accept the verdict of the electorate but I also know that they told lies around the housing numbers, they did that brazily.
'We only could verify that after the fact.
'I know that's your opinion,' Patrick chimed in.
'Well I'm stating fact, actually,' Mary Lou said, to applause. 'But that's what happened. I found that very hard to take, but they formed the government and that's alright.
'But you can't run the government and also run the opposition, that's never going to be okay and I would hope after the next election, whenever that is… I hope that that respect for those distinctions will be reinstated'.
Patrick's beloved mother, Mary Kielty passed away peacefully at her home in Dundrum, Co Down on March 8 of this year. Mary Lou's father, Patrick Bernard McDonald, who was known fondly as Paddy, passed away on Monday July 29, 2024 at the Caritas Nursing Home on Merrion Road.
Reflecting on the process of grief, Patrick asked Mary Lou where she was in her own journey. Patrick asked: 'We're almost the same age. We both lost parents in the last 12 months. I'm sort of in the early stage process. Where are you on that journey after losing your dad?
'Still processing it, to be honest with you,' Mary Lou shared. 'And I'm sorry about your mom, that's really, really hard.
'I had a complicated relationship with my dad, and initially, when he died, I couldn't figure out, did that make it harder, or did it make it less hard?
'So I think what I've learned in the intervening period is it's always hard to have one father, you have one mother, and when they go, it's the finality of it, right?
'Everybody's carrying something in their life… I kind of did my best always to have a relationship with them. I didn't always succeed. That's the truth.
'But I'm at peace with that now, but I think I'll probably spend the rest of my life fully processing that it never stops. It never stops.'
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