Whatever you might think of them, it would be hard to argue against the assertion that Sinn Féin’s MaryLou McDonald and, especially, Michelle O’Neill have not put a toe wrong over the past two weeks. In touch with their constituencies and the national mood, they asserted a new politics into an old argument. At once they defended the people of the Garvaghy Road and managed to keep their obligations to their respective parliaments, and not flinch in the face of unionist and media hostility. If Sinn Féin come out top in next year’s Assembly elections, many will point to this fortnight as a significant factor. And Mícheál Martin appears to be seething.
