Sinn Féin president promises reunification minister if elected

Sinn Féin says the next Irish government will have a reunification minister if he is part of the administration.

Addressing the Sinn Féin ard fheis (annual conference) in Athlone on Saturday evening, party leader Mary Lou McDonald told delegates: “Have no doubt: unity referendums are coming.”

“It’s time to plan and prepare,” she told party members.

“That means a Green Paper on Irish Unity, a Citizens’ Assembly, a Minister for Reunification in An Taoiseach’s Department, a new government clearly committed to referendums.”

The Sinn Féin leader also welcomed the restoration of the executive at Stormont, but warned the power-sharing administration needed more funding.

“The UK government must now act to fund services, infrastructure and progress,” she said.

“Casement Park must be delivered.”

On the eve of the looming Irish general election, Sinn Féin has faced questions over its stance on immigration during recent controversies surrounding the growing number of immigrants arriving in the Republic of Ireland.

McDonald told party delegates that accommodation issues should not be imposed on communities.

“Community, fairness and common sense must be at the heart of how we manage immigration. IPAS (International Protection Accommodation Services) centers should not be located in working-class communities struggling to survive. This is neither reasonable nor fair,” she added.

Sinn Féin ard fheis takes place in an indoor athletics arena here at Shannon University of Technology in Athlone.

The Ard Fheis area of ​​this impressive sports arena is surrounded by a world-class racing track.

However, the cheers around the race track this weekend are not for personal bests, but rather for a party preparing for an impending general election in the Republic.

The election campaign will offer Sinn Féin the prospect of being part of the next Irish government.

But, after some shaky results in opinion polls on this side of the border recently, and what one TD described on Saturday as a “setback” in recent European and local elections, the party is conscious of the the scale of the challenge that awaits it.

Here, surrounded by race lanes as she rallied her members ahead of the general election, party leader Mary Lou McDonald would have known that if a place in government was to become a reality, Sinn Féin could not afford to stand without doing anything.

Sinn Féin vice-president and Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill told conference delegates on Friday that the “jury is still out” on the new British government.

This is Sinn Féin’s first conference since O’Neill became Prime Minister in the Northern Ireland Executive – the first Irish nationalist to hold the position.

Calling for a further devolution of powers to Stormont, she said the new Labor government’s first actions had been more “broken promises”.