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24/01/2019
Fianna Fáil Announce Partnership With Northern Ireland's SDLP
Fianna Fáil has announced a political partnership with the SDLP in Northern Ireland.
The two parties have pledged to collaborate, as Fianna Fáil considers running candidates in the North.
Speculation has been growing of a full merger between the two parties, but will not proceed at the time being.
The Republican party's leader Micheál Martin said there is a crisis in Northern Ireland, in relation to the ongoing political stalemate, which requires immediate action to pave a new way forward.
"The achievements of the Good Friday Agreement have been immense and deserve to be celebrated," he explained today, Thursday 22 January.
"Unfortunately the reality is that today there is a deep and pervasive crisis which is causing far too many people to lose faith in politics and to believe that progress is impossible. This is a crisis which has been made worse by Brexit but has been steadily growing for most of the last decade.
"It is over two years since the main institutions of the Agreement collapsed. Northern Ireland has been left without a voice at the very moment that its future is at the centre of international debate for the first time in two decades and its elected representatives have no say as cuts to essential services are being implemented."
Mr Martin continued that the region remains the least developed on these islands and "contains pockets of entrenched poverty" which require serious development.
"We believe that it is the duty of all who seek to represent the people to try and find a new way forward and not to accept that this destructive cycle will continue.
"It was against this background that a discussion was begun a year ago with the SDLP about how we could cooperate."
The Stormont Party's leader Colum Eastwood added: "Both the SDLP and Fianna Fáil have agreed to work in partnership on an unprecedented programme of public engagement in Northern Ireland which can help frame an ambitious and practical agenda for the future of this island and our people.
"Without doubt this partnership marks an historic moment for both the SDLP and the Fianna Fail parties.
"We will not do so by gestures or gimmicks or through photo opportunities. Instead we will do it through a focus on policy and issues, not party or sectarian positioning."
(JG/CM)
The two parties have pledged to collaborate, as Fianna Fáil considers running candidates in the North.
Speculation has been growing of a full merger between the two parties, but will not proceed at the time being.
The Republican party's leader Micheál Martin said there is a crisis in Northern Ireland, in relation to the ongoing political stalemate, which requires immediate action to pave a new way forward.
"The achievements of the Good Friday Agreement have been immense and deserve to be celebrated," he explained today, Thursday 22 January.
"Unfortunately the reality is that today there is a deep and pervasive crisis which is causing far too many people to lose faith in politics and to believe that progress is impossible. This is a crisis which has been made worse by Brexit but has been steadily growing for most of the last decade.
"It is over two years since the main institutions of the Agreement collapsed. Northern Ireland has been left without a voice at the very moment that its future is at the centre of international debate for the first time in two decades and its elected representatives have no say as cuts to essential services are being implemented."
Mr Martin continued that the region remains the least developed on these islands and "contains pockets of entrenched poverty" which require serious development.
"We believe that it is the duty of all who seek to represent the people to try and find a new way forward and not to accept that this destructive cycle will continue.
"It was against this background that a discussion was begun a year ago with the SDLP about how we could cooperate."
The Stormont Party's leader Colum Eastwood added: "Both the SDLP and Fianna Fáil have agreed to work in partnership on an unprecedented programme of public engagement in Northern Ireland which can help frame an ambitious and practical agenda for the future of this island and our people.
"Without doubt this partnership marks an historic moment for both the SDLP and the Fianna Fail parties.
"We will not do so by gestures or gimmicks or through photo opportunities. Instead we will do it through a focus on policy and issues, not party or sectarian positioning."
(JG/CM)
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Ireland WeatherThis Evening and Tonight:Showers, scattered in the evening, will clear by midnight leaving the night dry with clear spells. Perhaps a touch of ground frost. Cloud will spread east towards morning. Minimum temperature 2 °C.
