Sinn Fein and how do they form a government dilemma

They have engaged with Unionists who are willing to engage. They cannot force engagement though.

In fairness to MLMD you need to take on board what she says, even if you disagree. It is not her job or wish to pre-empt what an Irish government plan (in their role as proposers of a UI - i.e. it will be the Irish government holding our part of a BP) might contain. There needs to be discussion among all stakeholders to decide that. SF are a stakeholder not 'the' stakeholder.

I think you can see some of SF's mature and smart (IMO) thinking re; Brexit. They stood back and allowed the 'government'(not just FG) to take the lead on Brexit.

Brexit was basically partition coming back ferociously and biting the British and to a lesser extent the Irish government in a way I reckon neither of them ever imagined.
Brexit's Irish dimension - the complications stemming from partition - almost upended the whole UK project and has done lasting damage to UK politics IMO. As long as partition remains the UK can never be sovereign, that's the bottom line.

For us here, it finally forced an Irish government to not stand idly by because Brexit represented a threat to the whole country and whatever gains we have made since Independence.

SF knew that from the off, they challenged Enda Kenny's government who were initially against special status/protocols for NI. By doing that they ensured that the fight against it had to be led by the government here and then stood back. Getting the people of NI to look to the Irish government to protect their interests was a master stroke IMO.

Is this for real ??

Certainly not what I claimed.

FG opposed in a vote on special status for NI in the Dáil. That motion was proposed by SF and FF.

Eventually FG were persuaded that it was the only way to protect the whole island, that's a fact of history.

SF didn't 'pull strings' anywhere, they persuaded and once it was a achieved they largely stood back and allowed the government to act.

SF showed a maturity and wisdom in doing that, is the point, like they are doing re a 'plan' for a UI. The only plan of worth will be a government of Ireland one.

very naïve viewpoint on how a UI should be structured. What 'atrocious acts' exactly? Another southerner casting assumptions on something that happened in their own country that they plainly have no idea about?

Flat out having to alter what was said to voice an objection>
An objection based on your hate of FG criticism.

Check the Dáil record and newspaper reports of the period. This should be easy for you to do as it was linked to before when you reacted the same way.

I’m sure most are indifferent as they just vote for the badge and don’t see the value of NI’s voice there (even though it would have been very useful during Brexit…).

Another bizarre holdover from the Dual Monarchy playbook.

You think SF are going to propose a plan and we will have Referendums on both sides based on it?
That is just delusional.

I understand why SF refuse to put forward a plan, it’s because they know it will lose them votes when the reality comes out in the wash. After all, the polls show there’s quite a few southern SF voters who don’t much care about a UI.

But that is not exactly inspiring from the party who claim to be the only one’s who can deliver a UI.

It seems to be much the same as the other parties in the south….practicalities above all else.