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.
