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(File image) The Sinn Féin leader opened her video by thanking the public for messages she received during her recovery. Alamy Stock Photo

Mary Lou McDonald 'fully recovered' from surgery ahead of Sinn Féin think-in

The leader of the opposition underwent surgery in June, announcing she would be recovering for a few weeks.

SINN FÉIN LEADER Mary Lou McDonald has announced she has fully recovered from her surgery in June and is “back at work” ahead of her party’s think-in on Friday in Dublin.

In a video posted to social media this afternoon, McDonald announced she was “more determined than ever to lead the change that I know you so desperately want to see”.

The Dublin Central TD underwent surgery in June, announcing that she would be recovering and “back in action” in a few weeks.

In her video today, the leader of the opposition said that it was “absolutely clear” that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were “out of touch, out of ideas and completely incapable of solving the many crises that we face”.

“What I want to say to you today is that Sinn Féin is ready to lead. We have the team, the energy, the policies and the passion to bring about the real change for you, your family and community,” McDonald added.

McDonald said today that the public want to see more change in the country, particularly in housing.

“The housing crisis has touched every corner of our lives in devastating ways, none more so than the generation of young people completely locked out of having a home they can afford,” she said.

“Sinn Féin will fix this housing crisis,” McDonald claimed. “We’ll deliver the biggest affordable and social housing building program this state has ever seen.”

McDonald claimed that her party will “leave no stone unturned” when tackling the housing shortage. 

“If I’m given the honour, after the next election, to lead government and become Taoiseach, I will making housing the number one priority.”

Speaking to reporters yesterday, at his own party’s think-in event, Tánaiste Mícheál Martin hit back at suggestions that Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin could form a government, if Sinn Féin were to be awarded more seats in the election.

While Martin said there is a “huge incompatibility” between Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil policies, he failed to give a categorical no when asked if the two parties would enter into talks after the next general election. 

The Tánaiste accused Sinn Fein of being “anti-enterprise” and “anti-European” and criticised their stances on climate change, claiming “they’ve been particularly two-faced” and “any genuine commitment”.

He hit back at some of the commentary that Sinn Féin will be the most successful party after the next general election, stating that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Sinn Féín are “close enough” in terms of the polls.

Martin said the aftermath of next general election, in his view, will be a “fragmented situation” and suggested that commentators need to “reflect” and be more “cautious” in their analysis.

He added that the media “need to stop cheerleading them on, as if it’s a slam dunk, it’s not.”

The Sinn Féin Think-In takes place on Friday in Dublin. It will be McDonald’s first public appearance since her operation.

The Sinn Féin leader opened her video today by thanking the public for the comments and messages she received wishing her well during her recovery.

Additional reporting from Christina Finn.

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    Mute Dave Walsh
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    Sep 17th 2018, 8:11 AM

    Buy bread,buy bread,for the love of god by breaaad!!

    950
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    Mute James Reidy
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    Sep 18th 2018, 12:46 AM

    @Dave Walsh: They probably are not able to bake it! Men or women!

    2
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    Mute Finn Faulkner
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    Sep 18th 2018, 1:23 AM

    @Dave Walsh: I swear to Brennans sliced pan if they shut down half the country due to this so called storm Ill crash my bike into the gates of the Dail. Fair enough the south, wesht and midlands might get a slap, but Leinster? Really?

    6
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    Mute Ossi Fritsche
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    Sep 17th 2018, 8:44 AM

    No need to panic, as Storm Helene won’t hit Dublin. When it does panic stations will begin.

    244
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    Mute Nucky
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    Sep 17th 2018, 9:02 AM

    @Ossi Fritsche: So what ! Got a problem with that

    42
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    Mute ed w
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    Sep 17th 2018, 11:11 AM

    @Ossi Fritsche: oh yes it will centre is going straight up the wast coast although looks like the one later in the week will be worse

    15
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    Mute shane campion
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    Sep 17th 2018, 10:14 PM

    @Ossi Fritsche: will you cop on ffs

    7
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    Mute Tom Shine
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    Sep 18th 2018, 3:49 AM

    @Ossi Fritsche: we are still dealing with hose pipe ban can’t have rain and floods until ban is lifted

    1
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    Mute rory burns
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    Sep 17th 2018, 8:12 AM

    Here we go again !
    Calls for schools and shops to be closed probably for a bit of wind .

    190
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    Mute Siobhán Ni Mhurchú
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    Sep 17th 2018, 8:14 AM

    @rory burns: eh it’s a yellow warning..

    224
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    Mute Bilbo Baggins
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    Sep 17th 2018, 8:16 AM

    @rory burns: eh no , it’s Yellow, for rain.

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    Mute David Carino
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    Sep 17th 2018, 8:57 AM

    @Bilbo Baggins: is it gas when someone try’s to be a smart ass and ends up looking like a dope

    135
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    Mute Brian Guilfoyle
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    Sep 17th 2018, 10:43 AM

    @Bilbo Baggins: Better than a yellow snow warning for sure

    55
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    Mute Scottyal
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    Sep 17th 2018, 2:42 PM

    @Bilbo Baggins: I thought it was purple rain.

    18
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    Mute B9xiRspG
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    Sep 17th 2018, 3:38 PM

    @Brian Guilfoyle: Never ever eat yellow snow! That’s my warning to you!

    15
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    Mute Diddles Daffy
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    Sep 17th 2018, 8:17 AM

    To have to beg the government to implement extra homeless beds now instead of what happened last year shows how heartless our pseudo leaders really are

    217
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    Mute Gulliver Foyle
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    Sep 17th 2018, 9:26 AM

    @Diddles Daffy: it does seem more of an article on iccch rather than the weather. It went from heavy rain in Mayo to complaining about homeless (real homeless this time) beds, the cause de l’année for journal clickers.

    65
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    Mute Joan Ryan
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    Sep 17th 2018, 9:43 AM

    @Gulliver Foyle:
    Oh do keep up Gulliver , the current journal ‘clicker cause’ is that Gemma whatshername is being deliberately ignored by the journal and all media outlets , in a conspiracy to keep her out of the presidency.

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    Mute Denis McClean
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    Sep 17th 2018, 12:52 PM

    @Joan Ryan: Yes. I just assumed Gemma Doherty dropped out and I’m very disappointed that the journal would stoop that low. Nasty.

    14
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    Mute Sorcha Ní Shúilleabháin
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    Sep 17th 2018, 9:04 AM

    Is the headline not a bit dramatic? The nation is hardly ‘bracing’ itself!

    103
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    Mute Rónán O'Suilleabháin
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    Sep 17th 2018, 10:13 AM

    @Sorcha Ní Shúilleabháin: I secured the wheelie bins against the wall just in case. Does that counting as bracing?

    85
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    Mute Sorcha Ní Shúilleabháin
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    Sep 17th 2018, 11:28 AM

    @Rónán O’Suilleabháin: It doesn’t count unless you put a big heavy rock on top of them to stop the lids blowing open.

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    Mute Deborah Blacoe
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    Sep 17th 2018, 11:39 PM

    @Sorcha Ní Shúilleabháin: ‘Bracing’ is the Irish word for foreplay. Foreplay to any event which might create a bit of excitement.

    7
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    Mute Jan O'Sullivan
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    Sep 17th 2018, 8:41 AM

    Storm Ali is on its way Wensday,”supposed to be a “BIG ONE”YELLOW WARNING AND “NATION BRACES ITSELF FOR STORM HELENE”which isn’t even a storm anymore anyway,Jesus Christ tall about exaggeration of the highest smh

    102
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    Mute James O'Brien
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    Sep 17th 2018, 12:54 PM

    @Jan O’Sullivan: yip fed up with this sensationalist BS that seems to a regular here now and turning into redtop rag status

    52
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    Mute Tommy C
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    Sep 18th 2018, 1:10 AM

    @Jan O’Sullivan: Jesus they used to refer to this as a blustery day. Now it’s ahhhhhhhh!!!

    9
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    Mute Ronan Sexton
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    Sep 17th 2018, 9:38 AM

    No sign of any warnings on the met.ie website. Must be a different Met Eireann so.

    52
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    Mute Noel Martin
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    Sep 17th 2018, 11:48 AM

    I hope RTE rollout Teresa Mannion for the weather forecast warning, she was brilliant when braving the the ferocious conditions of Storm Desmond in Galway as she was warning the citizens of Salthill and surrounding areas ‘not to make unnecessary journeys unless absolutely necessary’

    48
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    Mute Sebastian Thommen
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    Sep 17th 2018, 10:49 AM

    Lads we shouldn’t be “bracing” it but more “embracing” it surely…and Irish Water should be “celebrating” it!!!

    47
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    Mute Gisbert Bayertz
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    Sep 17th 2018, 1:56 PM

    Journal – please stop the drama

    40
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    Mute Charles Williams
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    Sep 17th 2018, 12:11 PM

    Flood warning, what about the drought.?

    35
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    Mute saoirse janneau
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    Sep 17th 2018, 9:49 AM

    Exactly. Not good enough. 5 hours before it hits they should be able to track where it’s going to land. Last night it was the Irish Sea. Now it’s mayo. Cmon met.ie

    38
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    Mute shellakybooky
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    Sep 17th 2018, 8:06 AM

    Brace yourself guys!

    40
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    Mute Tom Purcell
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    Sep 17th 2018, 1:24 PM

    Is “High Intensity” the new way to say “heavy”?

    26
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    Mute Noel Martin
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    Sep 17th 2018, 12:10 PM

    I hope the weather doesn’t advesly effect the ploughing championship which would put a dampner on the farmer’s annual pilgrimage.

    23
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    Mute James Grant
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    Sep 17th 2018, 1:44 PM

    Nothing but an average autumn storm

    21
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    Mute helen walsh
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    Sep 17th 2018, 9:00 AM

    It will hit the weat and nobody cares about that

    29
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    Mute Seriously stunned
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    Sep 17th 2018, 9:36 AM

    @helen walsh: i don’t eat weat any more so I’m grand.

    78
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    Mute Nucky
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    Sep 17th 2018, 11:28 AM

    @Seriously stunned: I think she meant to say “the West !”

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    Mute helen walsh
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    Sep 17th 2018, 12:04 PM

    @Nucky: blame the iPad, seriously I am stunned by the assumption, presumably SS’s iPad meant Wheat, hope he chokes on his weat, tell us more about this new crop

    9
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    Mute helen walsh
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    Sep 17th 2018, 12:06 PM

    @Seriously stunned: ignoramus

    5
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    Mute James O'Brien
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    Sep 17th 2018, 12:53 PM

    “As nation braces itself” .. Clickbait.

    22
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    Mute Tony Kennedy
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    Sep 17th 2018, 10:29 AM

    Time to prepare, so what’s being done ????

    16
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    Mute Sebastian Thommen
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    Sep 17th 2018, 10:49 AM

    Lads we shouldn’t be “bracing” it but more “embracing” it surely…and Irish Water should be “celebracing” it!!!

    13
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    Mute Scottyal
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    Sep 17th 2018, 2:40 PM

    I hope the downpour come to Dublin soon and keep at it for about a week . That’s about the amount of rain we need to get rid of this bloody hose pipe ban

    23
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    Mute Ciarán O' Donoghue
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    Sep 17th 2018, 2:53 PM

    Scare mongering?

    11
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    Mute Reuben Gray
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    Sep 17th 2018, 4:04 PM

    Remember folks, don’t drink the yellow rain….

    9
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    Mute John Flood
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    Sep 17th 2018, 11:08 AM

    Status Yellow – Rainfall warning for Galway and Mayo

    On Monday between midday and midnight 25 to 40 mm of rainfall are expected over west Galway and Co. Mayo with a risk of flooding in places

    Issued: Sunday 16 September 2018 11:00

    Updated: Sunday 16 September 2018 11:00

    Valid from Monday 17 September 2018 12:00 to Monday 17 September 2018 23:59

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    Mute Ben Leonard
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    Sep 17th 2018, 2:43 PM

    Its the ‘Status Yellow Snow’ you have to worry about..

    7
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    Mute James Grant
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    Sep 17th 2018, 1:45 PM

    A fart would be more worrying lol

    14
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    Mute Michael Courtney
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    Sep 17th 2018, 6:25 PM

    #prayfordublin

    10
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    Mute Jonathan Sullivan
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    Sep 17th 2018, 11:35 PM

    Is that hose pipe ban over with now ? We’ll have too much water now we’ll be hearing next off the government

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    Mute Maggie O'Sullivan
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    Sep 17th 2018, 11:58 PM

    Come on, these weather warnings are getting out of hand.

    2
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