From the Sinn Féin leader’s own Twitter/X feed: LINK
While it may seem odd, even discourteous, to start a critique of last Saturday’s Sinn Féin Árd Fheis address by Mary Lou McDonald with a reference to Sesame Street… well bear with me.
One of the great achievements of that landmark educational programme was how it borrowed methods of television advertising, jingles, and short segments to promote letters and numbers instead of product and sponsors. Each episode ended with the message today’s programme was brought to you by the letter P and the number 5… or whatever.
If last Saturday night’s address had such a message, it would have been just one word: change.
By my calculations last Saturday night’s Árd Fheis speech was Micheál Martin’s ninth as party leader. His first being at the 73ú Árd Fheis in 2012. This week’s micro-gathering was the the 81st.
Martin enters his fourteenth year* as party leader in three months. He has been unfortunate in missing out on several opportunities to address the party faithful, particularly during his time as Taoiseach.
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