Ó hOisín 'confident' Sinn Fein will return two MLAs in East Derry election

Former MLA Cathal Ó hOisín has said that Sinn Féin is confident of returning two MLAs in East Derry for the first time in the March election. Mr Ó hOisín hopes to regain the assembly seat that he lost in May last year. He is to stand alongside current East Derry MLA Caoimhe Archibald. “We have a two candidate strategy and that’s our aim and objective. We will be maximising our vote as best as possible this time round. We think we have a good opportunity to maximise our vote,” he said. “I think the five seat scenario throws up a new conundrum but I think if we didn’t think two Sinn Féin seats in East Derry was doable, we wouldn’t be doing it. Certainly the reaction we’re getting initially on the doorsteps is very, very positive.” Cathal said that the public appear to be “galvanised” by the recent RHI scandal and that he expects people who have not voted in recent years to turn out for this election. “This election is not like any others, it’s about corruption, it’s about arrogance, it’s about inequality. That’s our message that we will be driving home and I say we are confident entering into the fray this time,” he said. “We think that we’re the only alternative. We think that, if there is a new assembly, that we’re going to hold anybody to account and what has gone on before will not be allowed to happen again and we will entering into negotiations after the election. As others have said, the status quo will not remain.” Mr Ó hOisín congratulated Michelle O’Neill on her appointment yesterday as Sinn Féin’s party leader in the north. “We have a new leader as of today in the north and I wish Michelle her well in her new role. I was her assembly private secretary during the last mandate when she was Minister for Agriculture and I know her capabilities and strengths. I think she will be well up for the job and the party certainly is united behind her,” he said. He also expressed surprise that former SDLP MLA John Dallat will contest the upcoming election. “I know that John has on a number of occasions expressed his relief to be out of public life. I’m certainly surprised that he’s decided to come back into the cut and thrust of politics again,” he said.