with whose money, mary lou mcdonald ? i know, you raised the issue of housing, and let me address it. we have a housing crisis on the island, we've a whole generation locked out of home ownership, we have people who can't make their rent, who have no prospect of a secure roof over their head, we've people living in awful overcrowded conditions, and one of the lessons of this public health emergency is that not alone is a secure roof over your head a human right and a democratic right, it's also a public health imperative, because your home now is your shelter, it's the place where you self—isolate. it's all about stimulus, it's about repairing economies through growth. ireland's not unique in that, farfrom it, and sinn fein is certainly not unique, although we were very much ahead of the pack in recommending and advancing that type of economic recovery long before others. but the proposition, surely, is that a time of covid—i9 crisis with the reality of brexit and the end of the transition looming at the end of this y

mary lou mcdonald in dublin, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. after the february election, when you and your party did remarkably well — you won the most first preference votes in ireland's general election — you talked about a revolution at the ballot box. well, five months on, what's happened to that revolution? well, five months on, we are into really uncharted and unprecedented times, no more than yourselves, with a global pandemic, with the public health emergency here on our island, and, of course, that has caused very considerable disruption to people's daily lives, but also to political life. but i'm happy to report that all of that disruption, notwithstanding the appetite for political change, remains very strong right across ireland, north and south. and i still hold firm in the view that we are living through changing and changed times, times where i believe that significant movement in ireland, progressive movement, is possible and will happen. and i include, of course, in that the constitutional question of a united ireland. yes

my guest today is mary lou mcdonald, the leader of sinn fein. has her party missed their moment? after the february election, when you and your party did remarkably well, you won the most first preference votes in ireland's general elections, you talked about a revolution at the ballot box. well, five months on, what has happened to the revolution? five months on, we are into uncharted and unprecedented times, no more than yourselves with a global pandemic, with a public health emergency here, on our island and that has caused considerable disruption to people's daily lives but also to political life, but i'm happy to report that, all of that disruption notwithstanding, the appetite for political change remains very strong across ireland, north and south, and i still hold firm of the view that we are living through changing and changed times and times where i believe that significant movement in ireland, progressive movement, is possible and will happen and i include in that, of course, the constitutional question of a united ireland. yes, and i do not doubt for a second that you