Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has admitted her party failed to speak up strongly enough on immigration, acknowledging that voters felt Sinn Féin was not sufficiently challenging the Government's handling of asylum and migration. Her comments come as the party seeks to recover ground lost in recent elections, amid accusations that it has tried to have it both ways by attempting to appeal to its traditional base while courting new voters worried about immigration policy.

Speaking at Sinn Féin's think-in in Malahide, Co Dublin, Ms McDonald proposed that the availability of housing should be a factor in deciding how many visas are issued to foreign workers each year, alongside considerations such as strains on public services and student visa numbers. However, she declined to say whether the party would back a cap on immigration or a reduction in asylum seeker numbers, insisting the figures were largely determined by need, a stance critics have called another flip-flop. Justice spokesman Matt Carthy denied the party was shifting rightward to head off Aontú and Independent Ireland, framing the move instead as "sensible public policy", while the Social Democrats' Gary Gannon questioned whether the hardened rhetoric represented a genuine improvement to the immigration system.