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Fianna Fáil eye euro-elections in the North

11 - 04 - 2008
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Tom Griffin (London, The Green Ribbon): Ireland.com has news of the emerging 'Northern strategy' of Ireland's largest party, Fianna Fáil:

There has been persistent speculation that Fianna Fáil could merge with the SDLP, with the two parties possibly agreeing a common candidate for next year’s European Parliament election.

Last Saturday SDLP leader Mark Durkan told members of his party that they had set up their own working group which was exploring all political options on the island of Ireland.

While a substantial section of the SDLP would favour a merger with Fianna Fáil, another significant bloc would have loyalties to the Labour Party which had a Northern Ireland committee involving members in the North.

It is believed that a merger with Fianna Fáil to take place, SDLP members loyal to Labour could leave.

The possibility of a Fianna Fáil MEP in Northern Ireland has sparked plenty of debate over at Slugger and politics.ie. It's hard to see nationalists winning more than one of Northern Ireland's three seats, however, and a Fianna Fáil/SDLP candidate would have a lot of ground to make up on Sinn Féin's incumbent, Bairbre de Brún.

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Michael Langstrom (not verified) said:

Sat, 2008-04-12 21:41

If Fianna Fáil merges with SDLP, wouldn't that make Fianna Fáil in essence a British party, with seats in Westminster? And if the parties were to merge, wouldn't that by extension mean that Ireland (republic) has indirectly rejoined the UK? Why on earth would they want to do that?

Sinn Fein has had members in UK, NI, and Eire for years. But Sinn Fein is a bit of a fringe party (although in NI they are quite popular). Moreover, Fianna Fáil is a major Irish political party and their wanting 'in' in the UK parliament is confusing.

At first I thought that the Fianna Fáil wanted to emulate Sinn Fein by running candidate on both sides of the border, but unlike Sinn Fein, Fianna Fáil has a lot to lose, unlike Sinn Fein that normally has nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Well, either way, the debate will be interesting and debates is always good. I wonder if Fianna Fáil and the SDLP merge if that will eat away at Sinn Fein's political base? Stay tuned....

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