Researching Mary Mcdonald

On 10 February 2018, McDonald succeeded longtime party leader Gerry Adams as President of Sinn Féin, following a special ardfheis (party conference) in Dublin.

In the 2020 general election, Sinn Féin's performance improved significantly and it was the first time in almost a century that neither Fianna Fáil nor Fine Gael won the most votes. Sinn Féin achieved the second-highest number of seats at 37, one behind Fianna Fáil's 38 seats. Following Micheál Martin's appointment as Taoiseach in June 2020, after the formation of a Fianna Fáil, Green Party and Fine Gael coalition, McDonald became Leader of the Opposition. She is the first woman to occupy that position and the first to come from a party other than Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael since the Labour Party's Thomas Johnson in 1927.

Born Mary Frances Bowen in Tuam, County Galway, she joined the Irish Countrywomen's Association while living in Croom, County Limerick c.1947. She married Eugene McDonald in 1950, and was therefore required by law to leave her job at a bank. He died in 1979.

For over sixty-four years McDonald was a member of the ICA Clones Guild, which she helped to found. She became ICA National President in 1982 and played a major role in its acceptance as part of the women's movement in late-20th century Ireland. In 1999 she received a People of the Year award in recognition of her services for Irish women and older people. She was an Honorary President of the Association.

McDonald had eleven children. She described in an interview that "I didn’t start out as a feminist. It was life that made a feminist of me." In 2012, she stated her belief that the most life-changing invention for women is the washing machine.