Sinn Féin EU candidate for Ireland South Liadh Ní Riada has issued a call to women to not only support Sinn Féin at the forthcoming elections but to also join the party. Speaking on the campaign trail today, Ní Riada said:
“Politics has primarily been the preserve of men. That needs to change. How we conduct politics here in Ireland has to change. It needs to become family friendly, it needs to create a space for women to enter politics on an equal footing. Women and politics is essentially a question of equality.
“Here again I found that in Sinn Féin there was an open door for women to get involved and take up leadership positions, to stand as candidates. Mary Lou McDonald is a role model in this regard.
“Of the Sinn Féin European candidates across the 32 counties three of the four are women.
“I would encourage more women to come and join Sinn Féin and make representation by women at all levels as strong and as equal. Sinn Féin is leading the way in this regard.
“All of us, and women in particular, the backbone of homes across the country, must stand up and say ‘we will take no more’.
“I have been talking to women throughout this constituency and they know that a vote for Liadh Ní Riada is the best thing that they can do for themselves, their families and their future.”
“As a mother, as a wife, as a woman, as someone with a grá for our people, our language, our culture, our wellbeing as a society and as a nation, I know we can do better. “
I don’t want my children to feel they have no future here, that they have no choice but to emigrate. That’s why I’m here in Sinn Féin. I want to change things.
