MARY LOU MCDONALD - FROM PARIAH TO PARLIAMENT?

Twenty years ago Sinn Fein was a political pariah in the British Isles, with its members banned from speaking on British and Irish media because of the party's close links to the Irish Republican Army's terrorist campaign. Today it is emerging as a real political force in the Republic of Ireland, where it is running four candidates, and is campaigning for a seat in its established base in Northern Ireland. Mary Lou McDonald is heavily tipped to take Sinn Fein's first European Parliament seat in the Irish capital, Dublin.

"Our hope is that not only one candidate is sent to Europe. We want to send an all-Ireland representation as a strong message of Sinn Fein's political growth," she told Europe Information on May 31.

"People want a political alternative. They feel detached from Europe and they don't have a sense of connection with their European representation," she said. Local issues dominate the Irish election agenda, as local elections take place the same day as the European Parliament poll. And there is further competition from a controversial referendum on whether Ireland should continue to offer citizenship to babies born on its soil.

Voters are concerned with Dublin issues, but they are also aware of the EU discussions on the Constitution, even if they don't know very much about it, she said. "They do want information. They know there will be a referendum on it here (in the Republic) and in the North," she said.

Ms McDonald said there is "deep discomfort" over threats to Irish neutrality within a larger Europe. Ireland never joined NATO or the Western European Union, and she detects concerns that greater integration would oblige it to take part in some future EU military alliance. Neutrality is an important issue for Irish voters, and a public debate is looming, she said. "People were upset about Shannon [airport] being used as a stopover for the occupation of Iraq", she points out. The Irish government allowed US aircraft to refuel there early last year en route to the Middle East with troops and equipment, although public opinion was largely against the war and against any form of Irish support for the US invasion.

Ms McDonald is one of a new generation of Sinn Fein candidates, with a very different background from the party's leadership, who lived through the worst violence of the 1970s and 1980s. Sinn Fein's chief negotiator, Martin McGuinness, is one of the senior party figures to have admitted he was a member of the IRA, and...