Mary Lou McDonald’s home is alive with the sound of popular Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap.
And lyrics like “Brits Out” as Gaeilge are often loudly sung by teenage members of the family.
Kneecap is one of the most popular acts in Ireland with youngsters these days.
They hail from Belfast and are individually known as Mo Chara, Moglai Bap and DJ Provai.
They rap in Irish and English and one of their most popular hits is Get Your Brits Out. However,
Ms McDonald also has a good relationship with Prince Charles, who wrote to her to wish her well while she was recovering from Covid earlier this year.
She also said she would like to meet and shake hands with the Queen.
The Sinn Fein leader was speaking to the Irish Mirror in an exclusive and wide-ranging interview this Christmas – the second part of which you can read in tomorrow’s Irish Mirror.
Ms McDonald was open and engaging about what life is like outside politics in her household.
She revealed a band called Kneecap – who she originally thought were the Rubberbandits – are hugely popular with her children.
Ms McDonald told the Mirror: “The Rubberbandits are very popular in my house, the kids are gaelgoiri.
“My husband was saying the other day, ‘Isn’t it wonderful they’re rapping as Gaeilge,’ and I said, ‘That’s OK Martin, do you know what they’re rapping?”
At this stage, her assistant prompts her that it’s not the Rubberbandits they’re listening to and she is told it is Kneecap instead.
She laughed as she realised where this interview was going and said: “Kneecap, sorry, I love the Rubberbandits too, but Jesus, Kneecap, this interview’s gone to pot! Kneecap, which is not a very good name for a band.
“Anyway, they rap as Gaeilge, they’re extremely popular amongst the younger generations, so what they’re rapping is an entirely different
kettle of fish.”
Ms McDonald revealed her own listening habits are a little more sedate than her children’s, with Gavin James the top of her playlist at the moment.
She said: “I’m listening to everything. I was listening to Gavin James, he lives near I have to say.
“He’s not quite a Cabra-man, but I’m going to say he’s from Cabra, he’s from nearby up on the Navan Road, and my son is a great fan of his – my son is playing the guitar now so he’s a great fan of his and I have that in the car.
“But I listen to everything. I was listening to Thin Lizzy, I love Phil Lynott, I listen to a lot of Bob Dylan, I listen to a bit of everything.”
The Sinn Fein leader was one of the first public figures in Ireland to come out and say she had contracted Covid in spring.
Another famous figure who got the virus across the Irish Sea was Prince Charles.
And the healthy relationship that has been built up between the two in recent years led to the royal writing a get well soon card.
Ms McDonald said: “I’ve met Prince Charles and actually he wrote to me when I was sick, which I thought was a very nice, a very fine gesture.
“All of those meetings and conversations are very valuable.”
She also said she would like to meet his mother, the Queen, and shake her hand, adding: “Yes, why not.”
Ms McDonald said although she is not a big fan of Netflix superhit The Crown, her colleague in the Northern Assembly, Minister Conor Murphy, is.
She added: “I remember teasing him about it and he said, ‘It’s good to know how the enemy is thinking’, that is his excuse.”
Sinn Fein has been hammered over the social media postings of some of their most high-ranking members lately, including TD Brian Stanley.
He had to take down a tweet comparing the War of Independence IRA ambush on British Crown forces by Tom Barry’s famous flying column at Kilmichael, with the IRA ambush of British soldiers at Narrow Water in Warrenpoint in 1979. Ms McDonald admitted social media was sometimes a problem and that the party has “mavericks” in their ranks.
She said: “We have more than 17,000 members.
“We have a voter base that is hundreds of thousands of people.
“So Sinn Fein people come from every walk of life and every county across this island.
“And for the most part, are very civil and polite and measured.
“And then you have some people who will be Sinn Fein voters or whatever and they’re maverick and they, ya know.”
