Sinn Féin will not re-run the defeated referendums if they win the next election and form a Government despite a promise some weeks ago by Mary Lou McDonald to do exactly that.

Speaking on The Hard Shoulder yesterday, Sinn Féin TD and finance spokesperson Matt Carthy denied it would be a priority for them:

“It won’t be on our priority list at all… we have very important things that require to be changed in this society, above all housing and the need to reform our health services.”

He added: “We will not be re-running this referendum in the next Government”.

When launching Sinn Féin’s Yes-Yes campaign in February, leader Mary Lou McDonald said the party would re-run the questions with the wording proposed by the Citizens’ Assembly if it was elected to the next Government.

This now appears to be definitively ruled out.

“We got it wrong, quite simply,” Deputy Carthy said.

“We’re wrong because the people are always right, and the people told us emphatically what they think of this proposition.

“We have to reflect on that, we have to listen to that and above all, we have to respect it.”