SINN FÉIN LEADER Mary Lou McDonald has said it would “make sense” if left-wing parties in the Dáil opposition to work together and support one candidate during the Presidential election in October.

Though she admitted that her party has not had much debate on the upcoming poll, the Sinn Féin leader did not shoot down the suggestion which was first proposed by Labour last week, according to the Sunday Independent.

Ivana Bacik, Labour leader, wrote to the Social Democrats and the Green Party last week and floated the idea that the centre-left parties would support one candidate on a common platform, the newspaper reported.

Speaking in Dublin today, McDonald said that the idea would first need to be supported internally in Sinn Féin and then from other parties on the left. She added that there has been very few discussion as to who would be her party’s candidate.

“Whoever gets elected is going to have big shoes to fill,” she told a press conference this afternoon. “Certainly, Michael D [Higgins], by any stretch, has been an incredible President.”

Given that position, McDonald said that she would like to see the next “in the throne” to have the same cultural intelligence and depth as the incumbent and also be someone who is “committed to Irish unity and to a vision of the future of our country”.

In a rare sight of unity last week, the opposition gathered under one banner to oppose a decision that allowed four TDs who negotiated the programme for government to sit in opposition benches. 

The opposition parties’ protests to the decision, which would mean other opposition TDs get less speaking time, eventually led to the Dáil being adjourned overnight – subsequently postponing the nomination of a Taoiseach.

Asked by The Journal if the same level of unity in the opposition will be seen throughout the remainder of the Dáil term, McDonald said she hopes the parties can continue to work together “on the big issues of the day”.

“It makes sense for us to work together and I think that we can. I think working together, we can actually be quite a powerful force in the Dáil.

“The government, by definition, has the numbers – but that does not mean that we can shape influence policy and outcomes for people.”

McDonald was speaking to media at the Alex Hotel in Dublin after announcing a soft reshuffle of Sinn Féin’s front bench today.