Mary Louise McDonald (born 1 May 1969) is an Irish politician who has served as Leader of the Opposition in Ireland since June 2020, as President of Sinn Féin since February 2018, and as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Central constituency since 2011.

[4] Following Micheál Martin's appointment as Taoiseach in June 2020, after the formation of a Fianna Fáil, Green Party and Fine Gael coalition government, McDonald became Leader of the Opposition.

Born into a middle-class family[5] in south Dublin to builder and surveyor Patrick McDonald and housewife Joan, her parents separated when she was nine years old and she stayed with her mother in Rathgar.

[7][8] McDonald's great-uncle, James O'Connor, was a member of the Anti-Treaty IRA who was executed at the Curragh Camp during the Irish Civil War.

[10] McDonald was educated at Rathgar National School and at the Catholic all-girls, Notre Dame Des Missions in Churchtown, South Dublin, where she was involved in debating.

[20] McDonald started her political career by first joining Fianna Fáil in 1998,[21][22][23] but she left the party after a year due to core policy differences, particularly in relation to Northern Ireland and social justice.

[26] She first ran for office when she unsuccessfully contested the Dublin West constituency for Sinn Féin at the 2002 general election, polling 8.02% of first preference votes.

McDonald was in a tight race for the last seat against Fianna Fáil's Eoin Ryan and the Socialist Party leader Joe Higgins.

She, along with a number of Sinn Féin colleagues, remained in the chamber for four and a half hours in protest of Burton's alleged refusal to answer her questions.

[43][44] In December 2015, McDonald initially backed Thomas "Slab" Murphy, whom she described as a "good republican" despite his having just been convicted on nine charges of tax evasion following a trial that was held in the Special Criminal Court in part because, after a 1999 court case in Dublin, the last person to testify against Murphy in that case was bludgeoned to death.

[49] At the close of nominations to succeed Adams on 20 January 2018, McDonald was announced as the president-elect of Sinn Féin, as she was the sole nominee to enter the race.

[2] In March 2019, McDonald was criticised by some, including Fine Gael politician Simon Coveney, for walking behind a banner in the New York City St. Patrick's day parade which read "England Get Out of Ireland".

[53] However, at the 2020 general election, the party rebounded and attained 24.5% of the first preference votes, placing them ahead of Fine Gael by 3.6% and Fianna Fáil by 2.3%.

[56] McDonald touted the party's electoral success as a "revolution" and expressed her desire to form a coalition government, declaring that Ireland "is no longer a two-party system".

[53] McDonald's high satisfaction rating as party leader was also cited by others as another contributing factor in Sinn Féin's result.

She dismissed the coalition agreement as a "marriage of convenience", and accused Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael of conspiring to exclude Sinn Féin from government.

[63] McDonald has been credited with being part of a new generation of Sinn Féin members, who have broadened its appeal and increased its vote since she first held public office.

The paper continued by stating that "another Trinity graduate was elected in Donaghmede, while party candidates in Dublin also included a philosophy student and somebody called Pembroke, an unlikely name for a republican.

The irony is that the smoked-salmon socialists are just as effective at mopping up working-class votes as the middle-aged Sinn Fein men who saw 'action' in the 1980s or served time in prison.

Sheridan also claimed that she was "the embodiment of educated, Dublin 6 middle-class privilege who peddles a persuasive anti-establishment line and attracts the kind of adoring scrums last seen in Bertie Ahern’s heyday."