Larry Donnelly

But I mean, two percentage points, as you just said, that's almost margin of error stuff.

Likewise, Sinn Fein, only one percentage point.

So we all had this sort of discussion.

I had a unique vantage point because I was outside the country and looking on from Boston and all of this stuff.

But we all had this kind of thing is, is this a sea change?

There was lots of thought pieces about is this the birth of the seeds of the right wing movement here, all that sort of thing.

And at least now, of course, this may take a while to work out.

But at least in the immediate term, in this poll anyway, we're not seeing any sort of dramatic move one way or the other.

Yeah, I mean, this is an extraordinary piece right from the get-go because it is something new.

It is remarkable in the sense that these sort of discussions, these sort of grumblings are being heard in the media.

We all know that Sinn Fein typically has not operated as an ordinary political party.

The fact that this stuff is out in the ether, I think, in and of itself, that is quite something.

Now, I think in terms of Mary Lou McDonald, of course, there's been, you know, as Louise described, sort of battened down the hatches a little bit since all of this stuff has surfaced.

But the question becomes, how real is the threat to Mary Lou McDonald and her leadership?

I think the by-elections will play a factor in all of that.

And then let's, you know, make an assumption here.

One of the things I'm struck by is reading some of the statements, you know, for instance, by Matt Cathy.

And Pierre Stardy, who seemed to be in the same, I suppose, flank of Sinn Féin.

And a lot of that has to do with there's something about immigration that Matt Cotty said, which I couldn't really get to the bottom of.

There was another statement he made about not being too wedded to left-wing principles and losing touch with the rural base.