The leader of Sinn Féin, Mary-Lou McDonald has said that she doesn't believe it is "democratically healthy" to have the parties of government holding the office of Taoiseach and Tánaiste, as well as the presidency.

Speaking in the Agriland tent at the National Ploughing Championships today (September, 18), Deputy McDonald said that she is bringing a proposal to the Sinn Féin leadership this Saturday, and that an announcement will be made then on the presidential campaign.

She said: "The job is important. It matters who occupies that role, that they represent the country with distinction and dignity, that they're in touch with the realities of ordinary people's lives. And for our purposes, we really want to see somebody in the Áras who has the back of younger people in particular. I think that is just really, really important.

"We've talked over the last number of weeks around all of that. But we're all conscious also, as the lead party of opposition, that our primary duty to keep working, to hold the government to account, to keep them under pressure, to bring different ideas and solutions, and to work to a place where come the next election there is an alternative, but not just that, a better alternative, a more effective alternative.

"So we're balancing out those two things. We have essentially two options to run our own candidate or to back another, the other being Catherine Connolly," she added.

Speaking ahead of the budget next month, Deputy McDonald said that "talk is cheap" and that people will "look and judge for themselves" about the promises that all political parties made to the farming community in the last 12 months.

"At a point, people have to put their money where their mouth is. So the question will be; Who comes up trumps for farming, for agriculture, but also for rural communities more broadly, in respect of supports for people facing into a cost of living crisis, facing all of the constraints and challenges that face producers at this time," the Sinn Féin leader said.

"The government didn't go for our commission on the family farm, which would have been a bulkier and a more substantive initiative, but they did commission a report in terms of generational succession.

"There are measures and proposals in that, including cash supports for younger farmers, for older farmers. There's going to be a test now for government to see whether or not they actually action those recommendations, whether or not they put the money in that is required to ensure that we get the average age of farmers down," she added.