Since 2001, Sinn Féin’s Michelle Gildernew has been a MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone for all but two years.

In 2015, she was beaten by Ulster Unionist Tom Elliott who ran as a Unionist Unity candidate. It was to be a short term for Mr. Elliott as the 2017 snap election called by former Prime Minister Theresa May resulted in Michelle reclaiming her seat.

This 2019 General Election is being described as the election of a generation in some quarters as Brexit and what the future holds is the foremost issue for many.

Michelle agrees with the sentiment of a generation defining election and she hopes that the voters of Fermanagh and South Tyrone get out and vote to return her as MP and “send a strong voice against Brexit”.

“The big issue beyond all others is Brexit. People are really worried about what’s going to happen. What’s going to happen their jobs, their livelihoods, their rights. We are all concerned about what Brexit is going to do to us.

“And then probably the next one is austerity and how that is biting and having an impact on every service we have here in Fermanagh and South Tyrone so whether it is hospital waiting lists or roads or broadband or whatever, austerity is definitely having an impact as well.”

Sinn Féin have never sat in the House of Commons in line with their abstentionist policy, and although there have been many who question this policy, arguing that every vote from an MP counts in the attempts to stop Brexit, Michelle believes that being an abstentionist party has strengthened the voice of the Sinn Féin MPs.

“I think being an abstentionist has lent power to our voice because the voice and the argument that the seven SF MPs have been putting forward for years and if you compare that to how the 30 plus SNP MPs are getting on, I think the fact we are abstentionist, that we are outside the green benches but that we are using our influence not just in London and Dublin but in Brussels and Washington is actually a benefit to us.”

And she says that those who complain about Sinn Féin MPs not taking their seats will not be voting for her anyway.

“I don’t know when was the last time a Nationalist or Republican said to me about taking our seat. Anybody who is going down that road isn’t voting for me anyway.

“And I think the mandate we have is a very strong one and a very positive one.”

With her party arguing that the whole Brexit saga has strengthened the argument for a united Ireland, would the loss of a seat that straddles a significant part of the Border be seen as a setback to that discussion?

Michelle does not believe so. For her, losing the seat to a Brexiteer is a more frightening prospect.

“The united Ireland campaign I don’t think can be stopped or that debate can be stopped by anything.

“I would hate to lose this seat but more because I would be losing it to somebody who has voted for the British defence budget, voted for a war in Syria, voted to stop new fracking regulations which were coming in.

“So he voted against protections for people in my constituency so that would annoy me more because once again we would be misrepresented by someone who would back up the Tories.”

She says the united Ireland campaign is happening anyway, people are talking about it who were never talking about it.

“So us not winning this seat won’t set that back but us electing another leaver would be catastrophic because people in Europe are looking at what’s happening, people in Britain, people in Washington are looking closely at what’s happening.

“And this seat is held by a Remainer, by a very staunch Remainer and to lose it to someone who was as staunch a leaver as I am a Remainer, would be a disaster for the people in Fermanagh and South Tyrone.

Described as a “knife-edge” constituency by her party leader Mary-Lou McDonald, Michelle is urging people to get out and vote to ensure their voice is heard and she believes there will be a large turnout in the constituency.

“Turnout will not be down in this election, people are really up for it and I know that if the 59 per cent of people who voted to remain in the EU in Fermanagh and South Tyrone, if they come out it won’t be a knife edge constituency.

“But either way we’ll accept a mandate however small but it is in the interests of all the people of Ireland, the people of Fermanagh and South Tyrone to come out and vote for a Remainer, a strong Remainer who will continue to represent those people to the very best of her ability,” concluded Michelle, during an interview with this newspaper.