Sinn Fein would create a minister for reunification and abolish the means test for the carer’s allowance, Mary Lou McDonald has told her party conference.
Ms McDonald used her leader’s address at Sinn Fein’s Ard Fheis conference to present an optimistic vision for the party and appeal to voters’ concerns in the areas of housing, childcare and migration.
With eyes on the upcoming general election, Ms McDonald appealed to the public to give Sinn Fein “a chance” to lead a government.
She warned that workers and families “cannot afford” another five years of Fine Gael or Fianna Fail in power.
A key announcement in the speech was a new pledge to abolish the carer’s allowance means test, with Ms McDonald saying too many carers receive no recognition from the State.
In 2023, the Parliamentary Budget Office estimated the cost of abolishing the means test at approximately 400 million euro per year.
Merchandise for sale during the Sinn Fein Ard Fheis (Niall Carson/PA)
Ms McDonald said: “We choose to back people with disabilities to live full lives as equal citizens with access to work, education, services, and independent living.”
She added that the party’s budget, which included relaxing the means test but not abolishing it, provided the “most substantial package of support for carers ever presented in a single budget”.
Sinn Fein is also seeking to position itself as the party that will “get childcare right” for parents and providers.
In her speech in Athlone on Saturday evening, Ms McDonald told the audience that she was “once that parent juggling work with two small children”.
Sinn Fein’s housing spokesman Eoin O Broin (Niall Carson/PA)
She said Sinn Fein will deliver fair pay to early years’ educations and childcare professionals for their “crucial role” in society.
Meanwhile, she said the party – if elected – would cap childcare at 10 euro per day per child by September next year.
Its policy platform includes a plan to build capacity and extend parental leave to 52 weeks along with “crucial steps towards public provision”, she added.
Ms McDonald told the Ard Fheis, which the party said was attended by more than 1,000 people, that Sinn Fein would establish a minister for reunification at the Department of An Taoiseach.
She said a new Irish government should be “clear-cut” in committing to holding referendums on unity.
The crowd at the Technological University of the Shannon arena (Niall Carson/PA)
She said: “We can unify Ireland. We need a mature, respectful conversation about constitutional change.
“Be in no doubt – Unity referendums are coming. By end of this decade, people north and south must have their say.”
She said the Irish and UK Government cannot “continue to tread water” and must instead plan and prepare for the polls.
Ms McDonald said a green paper on Irish unity should be prepared, a Citizens Assembly established.
With the Government delivering a Budget on Tuesday, Ms McDonald also pledged to cut USC for every worker, abolishing the charge on the first 45,000 euro of income – a move she said would mean average workers pay nothing.
Senior Sinn Fein figures during a media opportunity on Saturday (Niall Carson/PA)
The Sinn Fein leader also placed a significant emphasis on the housing crisis, saying the party will deliver the “largest housing programme in the history of the state”.
This includes 300,000 homes, 50,000 of which would be affordable homes at prices from 250,000 euro.
Sinn Fein also plans to deliver 75,000 social houses.
She said the party would cut rents and “stop rip-off increases”.
In healthcare, Ms McDonald said the overcrowding pressures at University Hospital Limerick “shows a Government unable to fix what’s broken”.
She pledged to deliver a second Emergency Department for the midwest while introducing free GP care, additional medical cards and cutting healthcare costs more generally.
She said: “We are the party to deliver universal healthcare within a decade, providing the right care, in the right place, at the right time.”
On the subject of migration, Ms McDonald said Ireland is a welcoming country and “repulsive” racism must be faced down.
Ms McDonald reiterated party policy that accommodation centres for international-protection applicants must not be located in working-class communities “struggling to survive”.
She described Sinn Fein’s approach as based on community, fairness and common sense.
Having publicly acknowledged that the party performed well below its own expectations in the local and European elections earlier this year, Ms McDonald stressed that Sinn Fein is now “more determined than ever” to deliver on its ambitions, adding: “We are not giving up.”