Talk:Mary Lou McDonald

message: Was Bairbre de Brún or Mary Lou McDonald the first elected MEP? Each page is claiming they were - is there any way of determining which takes precedent in any seniority rankings? Timrollpickering 23:19, 30 Sep 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: Mary Lou McDonald was, by one day. Bairbre de Brun is more "senior" in the party, I'd guess. Kiand 19:59, 13 Oct 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: I updated the image in the article.--padraig3uk 11:52, 19 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Who was first 

message: What part of this article exactly do you think requires a clean up? I find nothing specifically wrong with it, please discuss, I will remove the tag if there are no suggestions.--Freikorp (talk) 18:30, 13 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Cleanup? 

message: Could someone explain why we need the term "convicted criminal" in the sentence "McDonald initially backed convicted criminal Thomas "Slab" Murphy as a "good republican" despite being found guilty on nine charges of tax evasion", since it already says he was found guilty of tax evasion. It is pointless duplcation.DanceHallCrasher (talk) 13:01, 2 July 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: Maybe because he is a convicted criminal... IrishSpook (talk) 13:03, 2 July 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: That does not explain why it needs to be said twice in the same sentence.DanceHallCrasher (talk) 13:04, 2 July 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: It's not. IrishSpook (talk) 13:04, 2 July 2016 (UTC)
replies: text:  The sentence refers to him being convicted of tax evasion, since when is that not a criminal conviction? Mo ainm~Talk 13:07, 2 July 2016 (UTC)
replies: text:  I am curious as to whether User:DanceHallCrasher and User:Mo ainm are the same person, the timing and coincidences seem odd. User:DanceHallCrasher has already been linked to the sockpuppets User:Gob Lofa and User:Lapsed Pacifist. Has there been an investigation? IrishSpook (talk) 13:16, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

text:  Gone quiet are we? IrishSpook (talk) 13:20, 2 July 2016 (UTC)
replies: text:  Nice deflection yeah there was and no connection so would you like to continue the discussion or just throw your toys out of the pram? Since when was tax evasion not a criminal conviction? Mo ainm~Talk 13:23, 2 July 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: It's the same as Mary Lou's introduction on this article. "Mary Lou McDonald (born 1 May 1969) is an Irish politician, the Vice-President of Sinn Féin and a Teachta Dála (TD) for Dublin Central.[2] McDonald was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2004 to 2009, representing the Dublin constituency." We don't just assume she is an Irish politician based on the fact she was elected at whatever dates, etc. Same applies for good aul Slab Murphy, a convicted criminal... found guilty on 9 counts of tax evasion. No one other than someone who has a problem with the truth would object to this trivial sideshow. IrishSpook (talk) 13:29, 2 July 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Thomas Murphy 

message: Does the sentence "McDonald initially backed convicted criminal Thomas "Slab" Murphy as a "good republican" despite being found guilty on nine charges of tax evasion" need to include the term "convicted criminal" since his tax evasion convictions are already mentioned? Mo ainm~Talk 13:35, 2 July 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: We already have a discussion above. And yes. WP:POINT anyone? IrishSpook (talk) 13:36, 2 July 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Request for comment - Thomas Murphy 

message: Does the sentence "Mary Lou McDonald (born 1 May 1969) is an Irish politician, the Vice-President of Sinn Féin and a Teachta Dála (TD) for Dublin Central. McDonald was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2004 to 2009, representing the Dublin constituency." need to include the term "Irish politician" since her election details and dates are already mentioned? IrishSpook (talk) 13:39, 2 July 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: Barack Obama's article starts with "is an American politician serving as the 44th President of the United States", WP:POINT anyone? Mo ainm~Talk 13:43, 2 July 2016 (UTC)
replies: text:  No way!! I concede. IrishSpook (talk) 13:47, 2 July 2016 (UTC)
thread_title: Request for comment - Mary Lou

message: I see no reason why Mary Lou McDonald should be a party to the troubles restrictions. She was a member of Fianna Fail during the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and only stood for Sinn Fein (unsuccessfully) in 2002, after "The Troubles" were over. Not one of the other 22 Sinn Fein TDs bar Gerry Adams (who was actually active during the troubles with SF/IRA) has this restriction on their talk page. IrishSpook (talk) 14:24, 2 July 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: "All articles related to The Troubles, defined as: any article that could be reasonably construed as being related to The Troubles, Irish nationalism, and British nationalism in relation to Ireland falls under WP:1RR (one revert per editor per article per 24 hour period). When in doubt, assume it is related. Deputy leader of one of the main protagonists in The Troubles, is without doubt directly connected to the Troubles let alone "reasonably construed". Mo ainm~Talk 14:30, 2 July 2016 (UTC)
replies: text:  1. None of the other 22 SF TDs have this restriction apart from Adams. 2. You are using the restriction to suit your own agenda. If it didn't say "convicted criminal Thomas Murphy", you wouldn't have placed the restriction in the talk page. IrishSpook (talk) 14:38, 2 July 2016 (UTC)
replies: text:  This is at least the second time you have accused me of having an agenda, and I've asked you to remain civil on a couple of previous occasions so could you please desist from personal attacks and deal with the content, not your perceived notions, also if you honestly think that any SF member isn't covered by Troubles restrictions just because it doesn't have the template on the talk then it says a lot about your competency to edit here, seeing as you have breached the 1RR on this article and then edit warred on the talk page also, then maybe you aren't competent enough to edit in a volatile area like The Troubles. Mo ainm~Talk 15:46, 2 July 2016 (UTC)
replies: text:  And this is at least the second time you've asked me to "remain civil" and then going on to attack me. You're using the troubles restriction template to suit your own agenda, pure and simple. You don't seem to like the truth... Also Mary Lou has the "This page is about an active politician who is running for office, is in office and campaigning for re-election, or is involved in some current political conflict or controversy. Because of this, this article is at increased risk of biased editing, talk-page trolling, and simple vandalism." warning as well as the BLP template, no reason to tar her with the brush of the troubles when she wasn't involved in it. IrishSpook (talk) 15:57, 2 July 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Troubles restrictions 

message: Though the article uses the term 'party conference' once in the article, McDonald also refers specifically to 'our special Ard Fheis' in the same article. It is the official term used for Irish party conferences by Sinn Féin (and many other Irish political parties for that matter). In addition, though the term 'party conference' is used once in this article, 'Ard Fheis' is commonly used in the Irish media more generally.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Seosamh is ainm dom (talk • contribs) 08:48, 27 July 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: We go by common usage on Wikipedia, not what McDonald said. Also, 99.99999% of readers don't understand the Irish language, so party conference is used. Spleodrach (talk) 08:55, 27 July 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: The term is commonly used in Ireland. The media widely uses the term 'Ard Fheis'. I can refer you to many examples. In contrast, the term 'party conference' is not nearly as commonly used. If translation is a problem, then perhaps we can go with 'Ard Fheis (party conference)'. Furthermore, I can point you to a number of wiki articles where the term Ard Fheis is used. Nearly all Irish people (even those who do not have Irish) will be familiar with the term.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Seosamh is ainm dom (talk • contribs) 09:01, 27 July 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: And what 99.99999% of Wikipedia readers who don't understand the Irish language? In the interests of compromise I've edited the article to include both terms. Spleodrach (talk) 09:47, 27 July 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: You could apply that rationale to a myriad of Irish governmental and political institutions. I am sure many non-Irish people find it difficult to read and correctly pronounce 'Taoiseach'. This has no baring on the fact that it is both the official and most commonly used term to refer to an Irish prime minister. Regardless, that compromise works for me. Seosamh is ainm dom (talk) 11:08, 27 July 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Ard Fheis or Party Conference? 

message: In the Dáil Éireann section, it states that "While she attended some Fianna Fáil meetings, she did not join the party". This is at odds with what it says on the infobox:
Clarity? KingWither (talk) 16:57, 24 November 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: I have reverted the recent change regarding this. The existing reference cited states . FDW777 (talk) 20:52, 5 February 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: An Phoblacht, as a publication created solely to promote the people, positions, and policies of Sinn Fein and associated groups, should not be taken as a reliable source on this. Particularly in 2008 when Fianna Fail were being popularly blamed for the collapse of Ireland's economy. Post-2008 Irish economic downturn Bobafettucine (talk) 21:41, 6 February 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: An interview with Mary Lou, in her own party's publication, is a reliable reference. FDW777 (talk) 23:37, 6 February 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: I disagree that a PR outlet for a political party is a reliable source, particularly when it is contradicted by her statements elsewhere Bobafettucine (talk) 09:36, 7 February 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: It's not contradicted. FDW777 (talk) 11:25, 7 February 2020 (UTC)

text: At no point in this interview does Mary Lou state she was a formal member. FDW777 (talk) 22:10, 5 February 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: In that interview she says "I discovered that I was just in the wrong party" in relation to Fianna Fail. I have altered this section to read "In 1998, she briefly joined Fianna Fáil, and later the Irish National Congress" Bobafettucine (talk) 21:36, 6 February 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: I said "formal member". That involves things like filling in a membership form and paying a fee. Did she say that? No. You don't have to be a formal member to attend meetings, as Mary Lou has admitted to doing. The claim you are adding is disputed, and in fact denied by the subject, and shouldn't be added without consensus. FDW777 (talk) 23:37, 6 February 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: She says, in the video, that she was in Fianna Fail "I was just in the wrong party". I'm not sure how much more is required? Bobafettucine (talk) 09:36, 7 February 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, but she doesn't say she was a formal member, one who has officially joined. FDW777 (talk) 11:25, 7 February 2020 (UTC)

text: I agree with FDW777, there is no evidence she was a member. Attending a few meeting when you are a student does not make you a member. There is no consensus to add this. Spleodrach (talk) 08:10, 7 February 2020 (UTC)

text:  as a new editor with around 20 edits, you would be better off to stop edit warring and respect the consensus. Spleodrach (talk) 12:49, 7 February 2020 (UTC)

text: There seems to be an issue with stating that Mary Lou was for a time, a member of Fianna Fail, which is pretty much accepted as fact elsewhere. I added an edit to the wiki, which had 3 separate independent citations stating this, but it was removed. One reference from the Irish state broadcaster, RTE , the other from the British State broadcaster, the BBC  and one from an Irish digital outlet called, 'thejournal.ie' , where it said, "You may not have been aware that for a brief period in the 1990s, Sinn Féin’s deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald was a member of that other republican party, Fianna Fáil.". This article also contains a short video clip that confirms May Lou herself stating word for word, that 'The reality is that she discovered that she was in the wrong party' and also 'I wasn't staying in Fianna Fail'. This seems pretty iron-clad to me. I found another source in the Sunday Independent that states the same about her past membership of Fianna Fail . For some reason in this wiki only the bar is set where the words 'formal member' must be used, but that to me is disingenuous as that criteria is not used for other Irish politicians either on Wikipedia or other Irish publications e.g. Leo Varadkar, Michael Martin and other SF politicians like Pearse Doherty and Eoin O'Brion. If all these separate independent sources are not acceptable to add a sentence about Mary Lou's past Fianna Fail membership, why is that, and who unilaterally decided to set the bar so high here, when I have not seen other Wikipedia pages set this criterion. Are RTE, the BBC, thejournal.ie and the Sunday Independent all wrong?  Jdaly81 (talk) 22:47, 14 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: As above, Mary Lou McDonald denies being a member. FDW777 (talk) 22:50, 14 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text:  She can deny whatever she wants, but the sources I have referenced are independent and verifiable and up to date. The denial that she was ever a 'formal member' of Fianna Fail is from an article published by An Phoblacht which is not an independent news outlet (it is as per its wiki a newspaper published by Sinn Fein), while the other references are. An Phoblacht article is also from 2008, while the other references are from as early as 6 months ago. Also, the RTE profile reference is used at least twice in other areas of this wiki, yet we dismiss this part of the RTE profile where it says, "In the late 1990s, she joined the Irish National Congress and Fianna Fáil, before switching to Sinn Féin in 2002 when she ran as a candidate in Dublin West". It seems to me some want to choose what facts certain references cite. Again, this is iron-clad to me, and looking at past edits, the mention of her membership Fianna Fail has been made numerous times by other editors, but edited out by the same editor time and time again.  Jdaly81 (talk) 23:26, 14 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: I suggest you read WP:ONUS, and stop edit warring to include disputed content. FDW777 (talk) 23:29, 14 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text:  I did read it, and there is no consensus here, or in the past, that is why we are having this discussion. Why is her membership of Fianna Fail controversial? We have on one hand an article with Mary Lou's version of events, from an article 13 years ago (by a Sinn Fein news publication), and from every other source I have referenced from independent news outlets such as RTE (which is good enough for other parts of this wiki) . Why does one automatically assume that the An Phoblacht version of events is correct, while every other outlet is wrong? If the claim is disputed, just say it. I don't have a problem with that. Just say something like, "It is claimed she was a member of Fianna Fail in the mid-1990s, but Mary Lou disputes she was ever a formal member" and cite the sources. Get readers to make up their own mind. Jdaly81 (talk) 23:39, 14 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text:  I think Jdaly81 has suggested a reasonable compromise along the same lines of a solution I was simultaneously suggesting below, in which the claim is acknowledged but shown to be disputed. I also think that they make a point about the An Phoblacht source being given more weight than the three other more modern sources that are not tied to a political party in same manner An Phoblacht is. CeltBrowne (talk) 00:06, 15 February 2021 (UTC)

text: Looking at Jdaly81's sources, I think the user make a credible case. In particular, if we look at the journal.ie source they used, in the video interview the interviewer asks her "Where would you be now if you were still in Fianna Fáil". McDonald does not correct the interviewer by stating "Well, I was never in Fianna Fáil" but instead laughs and says simply that she wasn't going to stay in Fianna Fáil, which implies to me she was in Fianna Fáil but quickly decided to leave. The Independent article also states definitively that she was a member in the "formal member" sense and left FF because she felt she could not advance through the ranks of that party. I think rather than dismiss this out of hand, I think more sources should be gathered by both those accepting the view she was in FF and those against the view she was in FF, and from there, users should try and work out what is the most credible, plausible version of events. To address FDW777's point that she has sometimes denied membership: While I think that should be acknowledged, I don't think that should be considered a decisive factor either for the following reason. Gerry Adams has always denied membership of the IRA. Contradictorily, there are those who insist he was a member. Rather than take one view or the other, the Gerry Adams article acknowledges both views have been put forward. In relation to this article, the same tact could be applied (emphasis on could, I'm not saying should, I'm offering one possible path): Have a sentence acknowledging a number of sources have suggested she was a Fianna Fáil member, while also acknowledging that McDonald has also denied this. Another solution is to state she "flirted" with Fianna Fáil and acknowledge she attended some meetings, but as others have phrased it, was "never a formal member". I think that if the sources demonstrate it, some kind of acknowledgement that she was at one point linked to Fianna Fáil can be made in the article rather than a blank rejection of the idea. The article does not have to endorse the view she was a "formal" member but can acknowledge the suggestion she was at least "in their orbit" for a short period, again if enough sources demonstrate that.  CeltBrowne (talk) 23:53, 14 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text:  Yes, I noticed that as well on the Gerry Adam's wiki page where there is a section relating to his disputed membership/non-membership of the Provisional IRA. I know that topic on Gerry Adams is controversial for some but is Mary Lou's early life membership of Fianna Fail so controversial that it has to be airbrushed out of her wiki page when we have numerous independent sources including state broadcasters who have a general higher journalistic standard than most, include it in their profile of her? Since her interview with the An Phoblacht, I can't find any source where she denied Fianna Fail membership and indeed implicitly accepted it by not denying it in the interview with thejournal.ie years later. She did after all come from a family who had strong Fianna Fail Republican leanings and admitted this herself numerous times. How about we say, "McDonald first joined Fianna Fáil in the mid-1990s but left the party due to core policy differences. However, McDonald once denied she was ever a formal member but did attend numerous Fianna Fáil meetings" Jdaly81 (talk) 00:12, 15 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text:  I'd word it something along the lines of "It has been claimed that McDonald briefly joined Fianna Fáil in the late 1990s but quickly left the party due to core policy differences, particularly in relation to Northern Ireland. McDonald has denied that she was ever a formal member of the party and suggested that her participation in Fianna Fáil was never more than attending a few meetings." The language should avoid stating anything as fact due to the disputed nature of the claims, hence the use of "It has been claimed" and "She has denied". That said, you should wait until more users than just me have commented on this matter before editing the article again, to give a chance for a clear consensus to be achieved. CeltBrowne (talk) 00:55, 15 February 2021 (UTC)

text:  I think one has to be cognisant here on how much weight we attach in evaluating the different sources. We have numerous independent reliable sources that claim in the affirmative that she was a member of Fianna Fail many of them would fall under the banner of being a reliable independent source as per Wikipedia guidelines. WP:SOURCE e.g. RTE and BBC. On the other hand, we have the An Phoblacht article which claims she was not a formal member, but as per Wikipedia guidelines would fall under the WP:NOTRELIABLE due to it being a questionable source, that is An Phoblact is the official Newspaper outlet of Sinn Fein. I can not find any other citation that denies that she was a member of Fianna Fail apart from that single source. Therefore we should be attaching much more weight to the affirmative claim of membership than the denial of the claim. On top of that, I have found new sources that validate the affirmative claim,  and . The last source is quite clear in the affirmation of the claim where the author describes his own research carried out while writing a book on modern Sinn Fein and gives details to that effect in the article. Indeed there is some confusion as to the motivation of Mary Lou leaving Fianna Fail which merits further debate and should be included as well, but there is absolutely nothing to indicate that she was never a member of Fianna Fail, she appears to again agree that she was a member of the party in that source. With all that said, I think we can confirm on the law of averages that she was indeed a member but also include that she disputed once to being a member. Something like "McDonald first joined Fianna Fáil in the mid to late-1990s but left due to core policy differences, particularly in relation to Northern Ireland and a United Ireland [sources]. McDonald once denied that she was ever a member of the party and suggested that her participation in Fianna Fáil was never more than attending a few meetings [source]". Jdaly81 (talk) 06:31, 15 February 2021 (UTC)

text: That's an essay. WP:ONUS and WP:CONSENSUS are policy. You fail to address the point that including a "he said/she said" debate over a minor point in this person's biography is simply not good article writing. It's not even a case of what AP says, it's a straightforward case of Mary Lou McDonald denying the claim you added as fact to the article. FDW777 (talk) 21:52, 15 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text:  And that is what we are talking about here, trying to get consensus, you are dead set against adding this edit to the wiki regardless even if other users agree it should be. I would like to see what  and user:CeltBrowne have to say about this. As per user:CeltBrowne Mary Lou implicitly accepts her membership of Fianna Fail by not denying it and is even quoting as saying 'she was in the wrong party'. The An Phoblact citation is a weak source as per wiki guidelines, WP:NOTRELIABLE but you want to assume that that source takes utter precedent over the other 6 or so sources that seem to affirm membership? I did address the 'he said/she said' point. Gerry Adams and his alleged membership of the IRA is included in his wiki page, even though he has always denied membership. Jdaly81 (talk) 22:06, 15 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text:  To add, from WP:CONSENSUS, "the arguments "I just don't like it" and "I just like it" usually carry no weight whatsoever." and  "Consensus cannot always be assumed simply because editors stop responding to talk page discussions in which they have already participated." Jdaly81 (talk) 22:09, 15 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: WP:NOTAVOTE. Mary Lou McDonald says . That you attempt to relegate this to "something she claimed once" while stating as fact she joined Fianna Fáil is the problem. I can find you many references that talk, at length, about Gerry Adams' alleged IRA activity. Where are the corresponding references for Mary Lou McDonald? They don't exist, it's a throwaway sentence in the ones provided. FDW777 (talk) 22:26, 15 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: WP:NOTRELIABLE. An Phoblacht article is not a reliable source, it is the official newspaper outlet of Sinn Fein where Mary Lou is now head of the party, where its editorial standards and fact-checking would not be as high as RTE, the BBC, thejournal.ie, Sunday Independant, IrishNews, which affirm membership of Fianna Fail to Mary Lou. You also ignore thejournal.ie video where she admits that "she was in the wrong party" emphasis on 'in' and didn't offer any denial that she was ever a member of Fianna Fail when asked directly about her early membership of the party. Clearly, this issue is disputed, so we should add both to the article with sources, and let readers make up their own mind.  Jdaly81 (talk) 22:50, 15 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: You will find you are in fact mistaken about the reliability of An Phoblacht. I don't ignore anything, it's "he said/she said" as repeatedly stated. And as it's such a minor, inconsequential point (which you haven't refuted) it's better off left out than having bad prose added to deal with the situation. FDW777 (talk) 22:54, 15 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text:  Mistaken how? An Phoblacht is not the offical newspaper of Sinn Fein, ( It is! ) who MacDonald is now head of the Sinn Fein party? They are as independent as RTE or BBC for example? Mary Lou herself is listed as a frequent contributor to the newspaper . Any neutral observer can see an issue with this. WP:NOTRELIABLE An Phoblacht is not reliable in this instance or at least not as reliable as other outlets. WP:NOTRELIABLE Can you find me another independent reliable source where MacDonald denied ever being a member of Fianna Fail? If you can find me a recent RTE article or BBC podcast where she explicitly denies ever being a member of Fianna Fail, if so ill drop it. If not, then...? As per this being a minor detail, it was good enough to include in a RTE and BBC profile of MacDonald, why not here on her wiki page? Are you telling me that the bookies favourite to be the next Taoiseach, the first woman Taoiseach, that her political origins are 'inconsequential'? Why not just let the readers make up their own mind on that, not you. I am willing to let both sides of the story in as an edit, you want nothing and airbrush it out. Can you even give any suggestion as an edit you would be happy with and whose prose you would be happy with as that appears to be your final sticking point, bad prose Jdaly81 (talk) 23:30, 15 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: Mistaken because consensus disagrees with your assertion that AP is unreliable. FDW777 (talk) 09:10, 16 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text:  When you say consensus, are you talking about yourself in the third person. As myself, CeltBrowne and User:Bobafettucine all acknowledge that An Phoblacht being the official newspaper for Sinn Fein has an issue with it comes to WP:NPOV and being a reliable source, hence why its WP:QUESTIONABLE   An Phoblacht exists to promote Sinn Fein. Jdaly81 (talk) 10:50, 16 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: No, I'm talking about a consensus that can't be overridden by a few editors on this talk page. AP is considered reliable, accept it and move on. FDW777 (talk) 13:18, 16 February 2021 (UTC)

text: My latest suggestion very much on the lines of what CeltBrowne suggested "It has been alleged that MacDonald first joined Fianna Fáil in the mid to late 1990's but left due to core policy differences, particularly in relation to Northern Ireland and a United Ireland [sources]. McDonald however, once denied she was ever a formal member of the party and suggested that her participation in Fianna Fáil was never more than attending a few meetings [source]" I think that is more than fair, gives both sides, with sources and not considered bad prose or is badly written. Jdaly81 (talk) 23:35, 15 February 2021 (UTC)

text: So, I decided to go in search of some more sources myself as well. In 2013, the website Slugger O'Toole (which focuses on Irish issues with a Northern tint) noted that . A "non-formal" member would not have been offered the opportunity to run for a seat that they were thought to easily win. Pat Leahy, writing for the Irish times, repeats that McDonald was in Fianna Fáil in this article . Sarah Bardon also of the Irish Times also repeats that McDonald was a member of Fianna Fáil.. Weirdly, the Jersey Evening Post even specifically names which branch of Fianna Fáil McDonald supposedly joined, their Dublin West branch.  Currently, we have one source and one source only indicating that McDonald was not a member, and that source may have been one in which she did not want to say she had been a FF member. On the other hand, we seem to have quite a number of other sources saying she, in fact, a member. Is there not enough ground here to make a simple statement akin to what I've said before: "It has been claimed that McDonald briefly joined Fianna Fáil in the late 1990s but quickly left the party due to core policy differences, particularly in relation to Northern Ireland. In 2008 McDonald denied that she was ever a formal member of the party and suggested that her participation in Fianna Fáil was never more than attending a few meetings." ? A sentence like that still acknowledges the denial from An Phoblacht which you have pointed to many times. CeltBrowne (talk) 00:31, 16 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text:  A ha, I think I've found something that solves this matter and demonstrates clearly that McDonald was in fact "formally" part of Fianna Fáil. This  2014 interview by Ryan Tubridy of McDonald on the Late Late Show (hosted on youtube by SF's official account) has Tubridy directly pose the question of her Fianna Fáil membership to McDonald. McDonald does not say "I was never in Fianna Fáil, I just attended some meetings", instead she says well she had a family background and a lot of friends in FF, and that in her area of Dublin FF was much more accessible than SF. Tuberity then asks , to which McDonald responses (at 4:41 of the video) . She then explains, as other sources have indicated, that she left over policy differences relating to Northern Ireland and Social Justice. I think this video should more of less completely settle this debate. She was a "formal" member for one year before her connections Irish National Congress connected her to Republicans and to members of Sinn Féin and she subsequently switched to that party. FDW777, can we say this video, combined with the other sources, settles the matter? CeltBrowne (talk) 01:02, 16 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text:  Excellent bit of research CeltBrowne, I think that more or less settles it. While I was doing my own research, her very own wiki had her membership of Fianna Fail expressed as early as July 2005, one of the first edits of this page . It remained there until August 2018, when it was changed to 'her attending some Fianna Fail meetings'.  and then all Fianna Fail references were deleted in a mistaken bulk edit here . References to her Fianna Fail origins are as old as this page itself. Now we need to settle on what to put in. Since we have a statement from McDonald herself on the matter per video, maybe "McDonald first joined Fianna Fáil in the mid to late-1990s but left due to core policy differences, particularly in relation to Northern Ireland and a United Ireland [sources]". Do we still want to reference the An Phoblacht article, as the interview on the late late show is a much more recent source, much more definiate ( from the horses mouth so to speak) and contradicts the article. Jdaly81 (talk) 02:38, 16 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: You don't get to exclude her reliably referenced denial because it suits you. There is no dispute she has a family background and attended some meetings, that doesn't make her a formal member (and the video doesn't confirm she was a formal member), which is something she denies. It is up to anyone wishing to include the information to suggest a neutrally worded addition and gain consensus for its inclusion. You can do as much investigating as you like and attempt to draw whatever conclusions suit you, but that doesn't mean you get to state as fact something Mary Lou McDonald denies. FDW777 (talk) 09:09, 16 February 2021 (UTC)

text:  You are moving the goalposts now, and adding that there even though in the 10 or so citations we have found affirming membership of Fianna Fail, including Mary Loy herself saying 'she was in the party' and 'she lasted a year (in Fianna Fail)' that the words 'formal' must be there to satisfy your own standard. What next, a photo of her membership card? May I also add that her membership of Fianna Fail was long part of this Wikipedia entry and was changed to something like 'she attended some meetings' not long ago, and then all references to her Fianna Fail past was unilaterally removed by you, in this edit  without any attempt to form a consensus or talk about the changes. Why did you do this?  So to throw out terms like WP:ONUS and WP:CONSENSUS is very disingenuous. Indeed the onus and consensus should be, why was it removed in the first place? Now that myself and CeltBrowne have done more than enough leg work to prove that she was a member can we move on? Or are we going to see more stonewalling?  WP:YDOW   — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jdaly81 (talk • contribs) 10:35, 16 February 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Fianna Fáil 

message: Other than the many references (I haven't checked, but I doubt many of them even mention Mary Lou) dealing with countries either agreeing or disagreeing with the election result, the only reference actually dealing with the "controversy" is this which doesn't actually contain any criticism of Mary Lou or the party although it does link to a related article. That contains criticism by Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Trade Niall Collins. "One politician criticises another politician" is hardly a controversy is it? FDW777 (talk) 18:25, 10 February 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: As there has been to attempt to justify the inclusion, I have removed it. FDW777 (talk) 08:46, 13 February 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Nicolás Maduro election "controversy" 

message: I have reverted this edit, claiming Mary Lou dismissing the coalition agreement as a "marriage of convenience" etc etc was . The reference is actually about Thomas Gould's comments, and the reference says  (my emphasis). Thus, Mary Lou has not been accused of disrespecting the democratic process, Thomas Gould has! FDW777 (talk) 20:46, 29 June 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  "This was seen by some as an attempt to delegitimize the democratic process of the government appointment"