Mary Lou McDonald, who has been nominated as Sinn Fein's new leader, says a united Ireland is "not a pipe dream" and "is the road we're are on".

The 48-year-old politician was confirmed as the sole nominee to be the party's president following Gerry Adams' announcement in November that he would step down after 34 years in the role.

Mrs McDonald called on supporters at Sinn Fein's AGM to "build our new Ireland", and a special party conference to ratify a new leader will be held on 10 February.

Mrs McDonald, who has been Mr Adams' deputy, is an English literature graduate from Trinity College Dublin.

The Dublin Central TD was the only person to put her name forward for the role as party' leader before nominations closed on Friday.


Speaking in Belfast, the president-elect told supporters that Irish unity was "the best solution, the best collective arrangement" and that she believed it could be done "in an atmosphere that isn't toxic or bigoted...but is...respectful".

Image: Mrs McDonald and Mr Adams pictured together in 2016

To applause, she said: "I won't fill Gerry's shoes, but the news is that I brought my own.

"I will fill my shoes, I will walk in my shoes and we together over the coming years will walk a journey that is full of opportunities, full of challenges.

"But which I believe marks a defining epoch, a defining chapter in our achievement of a united Ireland and the ending of partition.

"That is not a pipe dream, that is not empty rhetoric, that is the road we are on."

She also said: "I believe we are capable of achieving anything that we set our minds to.

"I have seen right across Ireland the energy, the ingenuity, of republican activists. Together, united and strong, let's go forward and let's build our new Ireland."

Earlier, Mr Adams had told the crowd the current political atmosphere in Northern Ireland was "very toxic", adding: "In my view, this is not good for anyone expect a small minority of bigots".

Mr Adams also said a united Ireland was not a "pipe dream", adding: "It is very achievable - we can do it".

"It is for Sinn Fein...to keep a united Ireland on the political agenda, south and north."

Sky News Ireland Correspondent David Blevins said the change in leadership was "significant", adding that Mrs McDonald is the first woman to lead Sinn Fein and comes from a middle class background.

She became Sinn Fein's first MEP in the Republic of Ireland in 2004 and Blevins said she had "lots of political experience and is well known for voicing her views, rather strongly on occasion".

Blevins said: "She's not a woman who anyone would want to take lightly."